UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 

Dr .    ERIIEST   C  .    MOORE 


THE   EDUCATION 

OF 

TO-MORROW 

The  Adaptation  of  School  Curricula  to 
Economic  Democracy 

BY 
ARLAND  D.  WEEKS 

FR0FES60B  OF  BDUCATION,    NORTH  DAKOTA  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 

M.  V.  O'SHEA 

PROFESSOR  OF  EDUCATION,  UNIVERSITY  OF  WISCONSIN 


"Wew  ll?orft 

STURGIS  &  WALTON 

COMPANY 

1913 


Copyright  1913 
By  STURGIS  &  WALTON  COMPANY 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  April,  1913 


LtO 

...  VJ  4  I  ^ 

4 


INTRODUCTION 

\     One  in  touch  with  educational  thought  to-day 
^    in  any  progressive  country  realises  that  there 
^^     is    great   diversity   of   opinion   regarding   the 
value  of  the  work  now  being  done  in  the  schools. 
During  the  past  ten  years  the  present  writer, 
in  the  discharge  of  certain  special  duties,  has 
found  it  necessary  to  read  many  hundreds  of 
^     editorials  in  the  leading  newspapers  at  home 
fj    and  abroad  regarding  contemporary  educational 
5    practices.    While  in  many  cases  there  has  been 
^     hearty  praise  of  both  the  curriculum  and  the 
methods  in  the  schools  of  to-day,  yet  the  deep- 
^    est  impression  made  by  the  reading  of  these 
^    editorials  has  been  that  there  is  widespread 
popular  discontent  with  educational  institutions 
as  they  are  now  conducted.    The  expression  of 
dissatisfaction  seems  to  be  more  open  and  ag- 
gressive in  America  and  in  England  than  else- 
where;  but    even   in    Germany,   whose   school 
system  has  of  late  been  held  up  to  the  world 
as  a  model,  there  is  developing  a  vigorous  op- 
position to  the  traditional  regime,  in  respect 


.^ 


21 5^f^'95 


Introduction 

alike  to  studies  and  to  the  methods  of  present- 
ing them. 

In  our  own  country,  there  are  many  who  feel 
that  the  whole  educational  system  has  lost  its 
anchor,  and  is  drifting  upon  stormy  seas.  It 
is  freely  claimed  by  these  critics  that  pupils  do 
not  come  from  the  schools  to-day  as  well  trained 
for  practical  life  as  were  the  pupils  of  half  a 
century  ago,  when  teaching  was  a  more  or  less 
haphazard  undertaking.  It  is  said  that  grad- 
uates of  the  elementary  and  the  high  school 
are  in  these  times  ill-prepared  for  responsi- 
bilities of  any  sort.  It  is  the  usual  thing  to 
read  editorials  charging  that  boys  and  girls 
with  their  diplomas  are  as  a  rule  inaccurate  in 
tasks  requiring  precision  in  thought  and  action ; 
and  they  are  said  not  to  be  methodical,  or 
faithful,  or  independent,  or  effective  in  any  use- 
ful activity.  In  short,  they  are  not  fitted  for 
the  needs  of  every-day  life. 

The  schools  are  condemned  again  because,  as 
it  is  claimed,  they  have  introduced  subjects 
which  have  only  temporary,  and  perhaps  little 
more  than  sentimental,  value.  Without  at- 
tempting here  to  be  mathematically  precise,  it 
may  be  said  that  there  is  published  in  every 
city  in  this  country  one  or  more  newspapers 
which  are  continually  attacking  the  schools  on 


Introduction 

account  of  the  ''fads"  and  the  ''frills"  which, 
it  is  claimed,  are  being  given  more  attention 
than  the  "substantials"  in  education.  One  who 
will  take  the  trouble  so  to  do  may  in  the  course 
of  a  few  weeks  read  hundreds  of  editorials 
upon  the  "degeneracy"  of  the  elementary 
schools,  since,  according  to  the  critics,  they 
have  abandoned  the  thorough  teaching  of  arith- 
metic, reading,  writing,  and  spelling,  and  are 
wasting  their  energies  largely  upon  the  teach- 
ing of  music,  drawing,  nature  study,  history, 
literature,  manual  training,  and  domestic 
science. 

The  gradual  spread  of  the  elective  system 
in  the  high  schools,  colleges,  and  universities 
has  drawn  from  a  considerable  part  of  the 
press  of  this  country  a  spirited  and  continuous 
warfare,  while  it  has  at  the  same  time  won 
warm  support  from  the  majority,  perhaps,  of 
our  people.  The  almost  complete  disappear- 
ance of  Greek,  and  the  gradual  elimination  of 
Latin  from  the  high  schools,  especially  in  the 
states  west  of  the  Ohio  River,  are  apparently 
distressing  to  many  persons,  if  their  views  are 
correctly  presented  through  the  editorial  utter- 
ances of  the  daily  press  and  the  magazines.  It 
is  urged  by  some  that  modern  studies, — as  his- 
tory, English  literature,  French,  German,  com- 


Introduction 

merce,  science,  industrial  subjects  and  the  like, 
— cannot  ''strengthen"  the  "sinews  of  the 
mind"  as  can  Latin  and  Greek.  Then,  too, 
there  are  still  among  us  those  devotees  of  an- 
cient culture,  who  feel  that  modem  civilisation 
is  crude  and  materialistic  compared  with  the 
glorious  civilisation  of  ancient  Greece  and 
Rome ;  and  one  whose  mental  life  is  not  moulded 
on  the  Greek  and  Roman  models  cannot  be  said 
to  be  educated  in  the  true  sense. 

The  distress  of  the  idealists  is  revealed  in 
a  recent  expression  of  a  prominent  editor,  who 
claims  that  "educational  science  regards  the 
development  of  the  inner  life  as  the  true  course, 
and  yet  it  is  almost  entirely  neglected  in  both 
common  school  and  college.  A  material  edu- 
cation is  the  one  sought,  and  though  this  is 
against  all  philosophy,  it  is  kept  up  by  the 
clatter  and  clamour  of  the  world's  perverted 
ideals.  The  energy  of  the  school's  purpose  is 
diverted  almost  wholly  to  how  to  make  a  living, 
while  how  to  live,  which  is  the  greatest  quest, 
is  quite  neglected." 

The  present-day  school  finds  itself  between 
Scylla  and  Charybdis.  Not  only  is  it  denounced 
by  those  who  regard  contemporary  civilisation 
as  degenerate, — as  tending  toward  the  exalta- 
tion of  what  is  materialistic  and  sensuous ;  it  is 

iv 


Introduction 

attacked  with  equal  ardour  and  earnestness  by 
those  who  feel  that  it  is  lagging  behind  in  the 
progress  of  civilisation.  A  considerable  pro- 
portion of  the  more  important  and  influential 
newspapers  in  this  country — those  which  prob- 
ably reflect  prevailing  opinion  most  accurately 
— are  constantly  saying  that  the  school  as  it 
exists  among  us  is  not  fully  adapted  to  the 
needs  of  the  times.  It  is  teaching  topics  which, 
if  they  ever  had  value,  have  ceased  to  possess 
it  to  any  extent,  because  of  the  changed  condi- 
tions in  contemporary  life.  Men  everywhere 
are  urging  the  schools  to  free  themselves  from 
the  shackles  of  tradition,  and  teach  the  young 
those  things  which  will  interpret  modern  life 
for  them,  and  give  them  power  to  put  their 
interpretations  into  practical  operation  for 
their  own  good  and  that  of  their  fellows.  For 
instance,  teachers  are  being  advised  to  cease 
teaching  mere  exercise  problems  in  arithmetic, 
and  to  put  in  their  place  problems  that  relate 
directly  to  modern  commercial,  industrial,  agri- 
cultural, and  urban  life.  Let  arithmetic,  they 
say,  be  curtailed  so  that  room  may  be  made  for 
studies  that  deal  with  important  matters,  as 
sanitation,  nutrition,  common  diseases,  home- 
making,  plant  and  animal  life,  city  and  town 
government,  the  methods  of  corporations,  the 


Introduction 

danj^ers  to  our  civilisation  from  political  cor- 
ruption, and  so  on  ad  libitum.  And  tlie  modi- 
fications and  abridgment  which  are  being  de- 
manded in  respect  to  arithmetic,  are  being 
urged  also  in  regard  to  grammar,  spelling,  pen- 
manship, reading,  and  geography. 

The  present  volume  should  assist  our  people, 
whether  laymen  or  teachers,  to  see  more  clearly 
than  they  have  done  heretofore  the  fundamental 
principles  in  view  of  which  the  problems  of 
studies  and  of  methods  of  teaching  must  be 
solved.  Professor  Weeks  maintains  that  true 
knowledge  always  assists  its  possessor  to  ad- 
just himself  to  the  world  in  which  he  lives. 
It  gives  him  insight  into  the  constitution  of 
some  phase  of  his  environment,  and  skill  in 
adapting  himself  to  it,  or  in  utilising  it  to  min- 
ister to  his  needs.  The  majority  of  serious 
students  of  education  throughout  the  world  to- 
day hold  to  this  as  the  right  view  of  genuine 
knowledge,  and  Professor  Weeks  is  certainly 
justified  in  making  it  the  basis  of  his  system 
of  educational  values.  In  an  interesting  and 
satisfactory  way  he  has  analysed  the  situations 
in  which  the  typical  individual  is  placed,  which 
determine  the  types  of  knowledge  which  he 
must  acquire  in  order  that  he  may  successfully 
solve  the  problems  presented  in  every-day  life. 


Introduction 

It  seems  to  the  writer  that  Professor  Weeks 
has  made  a  distinct  contribution  to  contempo- 
rary educational  theory  in  his  lucid  discussion 
of  the  three  sorts  of  knowledge — productional, 
distributional,  and  consumptional — which  must 
be  presented  in  the  curricula  of  the  schools  in 
order  that  the  welfare  of  the  individual  and  of 
the  group  may  be  preserved  and  promoted. 

There  are  some  people  to-day  who  maintain 
that  the  importance  of  the  school  in  society 
is  immensely  overrated.  They  say  that  the 
newspapers,  magazines,  and  similar  agencies 
are  of  primary  importance  in  disseminating 
useful  knowledge  among  the  people.  But  any 
one  who  will  read  Part  Two  of  this  volume  will 
probably  be  convinced,  even  if  he  approaches 
the  subject  as  a  sceptic,  that  the  school  does, 
and  always  must,  play  the  all-important  role 
in  making  knowledge  effective  in  the  lives  of 
the  rising  generation.  It  is  the  one  institution 
established  by  society  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
ducting the  young  into  the  wisdom  accumulated 
by  the  race  in  its  efforts  to  increase  the  sum 
total  of  happiness  among  men,  and  to  lessen  the 
pains  due  to  lack  of  understanding  of  man's 
environments,  social  and  physical.  Professor 
Weeks  recognises  the  value  of  numerous  agen- 
cies for  the  education  of  the  people,  but  he 


Introduction 

very  properly  makes  them  singly  and  collec- 
tively subservient  to  the  school.  It  is  likely 
that  the  majority  of  people  in  America  will 
endorse  this  view;  but  it  would  be  of  distinct 
advantage  in  American  life  if  communities 
everywhere  would  recognise  the  supreme  im- 
portance of  the  school  in  conserving  and  im- 
proving our  democratic  institutions. 

The  writer  predicts  that  no  one  will  read 
Part  Three  of  this  volume  without  being  im- 
pressed with  the  necessity  of  introducing  into 
our  school  certain  types  of  knowledge  which 
now  are  not  found  there  at  all,  or  are  given 
but  slight  attention.  The  author  presents  the 
matter  from  the  right  standpoint,  for  he  takes 
life  exactly  as  it  is  being  lived  in  typical  com- 
munities, and  examines  the  outcome  in  physical 
and  social  well-being.  He  finds  that  people 
fail  to  attain  many  of  the  things  toward  which 
they  strive,  mainly  because  of  lack  of  appro- 
priate knowledge,  and  he  contends  that  this 
knowledge  should  be  generally  supplied  to  pu- 
pils in  the  schools. 

It  cannot  be  expected  that  every  one  who  will 
read  this  volume  will  endorse  all  the  views  that 
are  presented,  because  little  stress  is  laid 
herein  upon  the  so-called  culture  studies,  though 
they  are  not  excluded  from  the  curricula  which 


Introduction 

the  author  proposes.  But  for  the  most  part  it  is 
assumed  that  if  pupils  in  the  schools  are  given 
the  knowledge  which  will  enable  them  to  adjust 
themselves  effectively  to  the  social  and  physical 
situations  in  which  they  are  placed,  they  will 
receive  culture  in  the  process.  Professor 
Weeks  is  certainly  in  accord  with  the  best 
thought  in  America  to-day  in  his  position  on 
this  question.  The  older  view  of  culture,  as 
consisting  in  the  learning  of  ancient  languages 
and  histories,  has  been  generally  abandoned, 
as  well  by  those  who  teach  the  classics  as  by 
those  who  exalt  modern  subjects.  We  are 
coming  to  believe  that  the  cultivated  man  is 
the  one  who  knows  how  to  handle  himself  effec- 
tively in  every-day  life.  He  will  not  offend 
people,  and  he  will  not  shirk  his  responsibility 
in  pulling  his  own  oar.  He  will  not  attach  value 
to  learning  for  its  own  sake.  He  will  praise 
that  sort  of  information  only  that  can  be  utilised 
in  some  manner  in  adapting  oneself  harmo- 
niously to  the  people  among  whom  one  lives, 
or  in  utilising  natural  forces  to  serve  him  and 
his  fellows  in  their  needs.  The  author  has 
presented  this  conception  of  education  and  of 
culture  in  a  clear,  concrete,  and  convincing  man- 
ner. 
In  this  volume  Professor  Weeks  deals  with 


Introduction 

very  properly  makes  tliem  singly  and  collec- 
tively subservient  to  the  school.  It  is  likely 
that  the  majority  of  people  in  America  will 
endorse  this  view;  but  it  would  be  of  distinct 
advantage  in  American  life  if  communities 
everywhere  would  recognise  the  supreme  im- 
portance of  the  school  in  conserving  and  im- 
proving our  democratic  institutions. 

The  writer  predicts  that  no  one  will  read 
Part  Three  of  this  volume  without  being  im- 
pressed with  the  necessity  of  introducing  into 
our  school  certain  types  of  knowledge  which 
now  are  not  found  there  at  all,  or  are  given 
but  slight  attention.  The  author  presents  the 
matter  from  the  right  standpoint,  for  he  takes 
life  exactly  as  it  is  being  lived  in  typical  com- 
munities, and  examines  the  outcome  in  physical 
and  social  well-being.  He  finds  that  people 
fail  to  attain  many  of  the  things  toward  which 
they  strive,  mainly  because  of  lack  of  appro- 
priate knowledge,  and  he  contends  that  this 
knowledge  should  be  generally  supplied  to  pu- 
pils in  the  schools. 

It  cannot  be  expected  that  every  one  who  will 
read  this  volume  will  endorse  all  the  views  that 
are  presented,  because  little  stress  is  laid 
herein  upon  the  so-called  culture  studies,  though 
they  are  not  excluded  from  the  curricula  which 


Introduction 

the  author  proposes.  But  for  the  most  part  it  is 
assumed  that  if  pupils  in  the  schools  are  g-iven 
the  knowledge  which  will  enable  them  to  adjust 
themselves  effectively  to  the  social  and  physical 
situations  in  which  they  are  placed,  they  will 
receive  culture  in  the  process.  Professor 
Weeks  is  certainly  in  accord  with  the  best 
thought  in  America  to-day  in  his  position  on 
this  question.  The  older  view  of  culture,  as 
consisting  in  the  learning  of  ancient  languages 
and  histories,  has  been  generally  abandoned, 
as  well  by  those  who  teach  the  classics  as  by 
those  who  exalt  modern  subjects.  We  are 
coming  to  believe  that  the  cultivated  man  is 
the  one  who  knows  how  to  handle  himself  effec- 
tively in  every-day  life.  He  will  not  offend 
people,  and  he  will  not  shirk  bis  responsibility 
in  pulling  his  own  oar.  He  will  not  attach  value 
to  learning  for  its  own  sake.  He  will  praise 
that  sort  of  information  only  that  can  be  utilised 
in  some  manner  in  adapting  oneself  harmo- 
niously to  the  people  among  whom  one  lives, 
or  in  utilising  natural  forces  to  serve  liim  and 
his  fellows  in  their  needs.  The  author  has 
presented  this  conception  of  education  and  of 
culture  in  a  clear,  concrete,  and  convincing  man- 
ner. 
In  this  volume  Professor  Weeks  deals  with 


Introduction 

subjects  of  large  and  general  importance,  and 
he  has  chosen  a  style  and  a  vocabulary  which 
are  suited  to  the  scope  and  dignity  of  his  theme. 
His  conception  of  knowledge  and  of  education 
is  a  dynamic  one;  he  has  firm  convictions  re- 
garding the  importance  of  the  problems  which 
he  considers,  and  his  style  partakes  of  the 
vigorous  and  positive  character  of  his  think- 
ing. The  work  as  a  whole  should  prove  of  dis- 
tinct service,  not  only  to  educational  people, 
but  to  laymen  who  are  interested  in  educational 
progress  and  in  social  improvement. 

M.  V.  O'Shea. 
Madison,  Wisconsin. 
January  14th,  1913. 


CONTENTS 

PART  ONE 
KINDS  OF  KNOWLEDGE 

CHAPTEB  PAGE 

I  The  Use  of  Information 3 

II  The  Producer's  Knowledge 9 

III  The   Science   of   Distribution 20 

IV  Knowing  How  to  Consitme 35 

PART  TWO 
THE  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE 

V    They   Say 61 

VI    Printers'    Ink 57 

VII     The  Specialist 69 

VIII    The   Fiest  Teacheb 78 

IX    Other   Agencies 86 

X    The  School 104 

PART  THREE 

THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CUmilCULUM 

XI    The  Curriculum  and  Democracy 125 

Xn    Knowledge  Values 135 

XIII  Some  Places  Where  Knowledge  is  Needed   .      .   168 

XIV    A    Democratised    Cubbiculum: 202 

XV    Iif  Conclusion 217 


PAET  ONE 
KINDS  OF  KNOWLEDGE 


Some  considerations  regarding  the  nature 
and  function  of  knowledge,  the  main  relations 
of  life  in  which  knowledge  is  of  use,  the 
agencies  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  espe- 
cially the  school,  and  the  conditions  under 
which  the  movement  for  social  welfare  and 
democracy  may  be  promoted  through  the  cur- 
riculum are  offered  in  the  following  pages. 


THE  EDUCATION  OF 
TO-MORROW 

I 

The  Use  of  Information 

Imagine  a  person  deprived  of  his  stock  of 
knowledge.  His  nature  would  propel  him  along 
purely  instinctive  lines,  but  in  each  situation 
in  which  he  found  himself  he  would  suffer  se- 
riously for  lack  of  consciousness  of  past  expe- 
rience. The  instinct  of  sociability  might  draw 
him  toward  a  fireside  group,  but  he  would 
know  neither  how  to  act  with  reference  to 
others  nor  how  to  protect  himself  from  the  dan- 
gers of  fire.  Were  he  to  cross  a  railroad  track 
the  instinct  of  curiosity  would  likely  hold  him 
on  the  rails  till  run  down  by  the  train.  De- 
prived of  his  former  experience  with  railroads 
and  the  knowledge  gained  from  others'  expe- 
rience with  railroads,  our  hypothetical  person 
would  no  doubt  fall  an  early  victim  to  the  dan- 
gers of  the  railroad  crossing. 

3 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

Similarly  with  a  multitude  of  situations  re- 
quiring adjustments  on  the  part  of  the  indi- 
vidual. The  mental  picture  of  a  former 
situation  and  its  results  leads  to  the  avoidance 
or  the  repetition  of  the  original  experience. 
The  more  knowledge  one  has  of  former  expe- 
riences the  better  able  is  he  to  choose  wisely 
among  new  situations  that  present  themselves. 
Deprived  of  images,  which  are  virtually  a 
photographic  collection  for  reference  purposes, 
the  individual  would  forever  be  debating  the 
wisdom  of  alternatives  and  exposed  at  every 
turn  to  the  disasters  of  unwise  choices.  No 
evolutionary  attainment  of  the  organism  is 
comparable  to  the  mental  process  which  effects 
a  restoration  of  the  past  for  purposes  of  guid- 
ance as  to  future  movements  and  decisions. 

Knowledge  enables  one  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  environment,  while  lack  of  it  involves 
maladjustment  entailing  unnecessary  friction, 
waste,  loss  and  suffering  and  in  extreme  cases 
death.  Knowledge  vastly  conserves  effort  and 
directs  energies  aright.  Eepresenting  as  it 
does  the  significant  experience  one  himself  has 
had  as  well  as  the  experience  of  the  race  so  far 
as  assimilated  through  the  processes  of  learn- 
ing, one's  knowledge  saves  from  numberless 
hazards  and  points  the  way  to  economies  and 

4 


The  Use  of  Information 

system  in  relation  to  environment.  Knowledge 
sets  the  screws  of  adjustment,  enablijig  the  or- 
ganism to  accommodate  itself  to  variations. 
It  warns  by  citing  appropriate  examples  from 
the  past.  Its  function  is  to  promote  cor- 
respondence between  organism  and  environ- 
ment. 

Since  the  function  of  knowledge  is  to  artic- 
ulate the  individual  with  his  environment,  it  is 
evident  that  what  is  valuable  knowledge  to  one 
may  be  worthless  knowledge  to  another,  except 
so  far  as  all  individuals  have  needs  in  common. 
It  will  not  do  to  pass  upon  this  or  that  quantum 
of  knowledge  absolutely.  The  values  of  knowl- 
edge are  ever  relative  to  the  individual  him- 
self. 

The  question  of  the  functional  value  of  knowl- 
edge is,  then,  largely  a  personal  one.  Is  Greek 
a  valuable  knowledge?  It  was  to  individual 
Greeks  in  Greece.  It  is  less  so  to  the  Greek  in 
America  who  sells  fruit  to  Americans.  To  the 
American?  That  depends.  But  the  question 
must  be  discussed  always  with  reference  to  par- 
ticular individuals  or  classes  having  needs  in 
common. 

To  evaluate  knowledge  for  the  individual  re- 
quires acquaintance  with  the  relations  which  he 
will  sustain  to  his  environment.    What  will  he 

5 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

do  during  the  rest  of  his  life?  Where  will 
he  live?  A  polar  explorer  would  perish  on  the 
knowledge  that  would  keep  alive  a  traveller  in 
Africa.  Will  he  marry  and  have  children? 
Does  his  health  require  special  attention? 
What  are  his  interests? 

But  these  questions  cannot  all  be  answered, 
even  by  the  person  himself.  Regardless  of  in- 
tentions and  plans  the  individual  always  to 
some  extent  finds  that  his  expected  environ- 
ment presents  surprises.  New  needs  arise. 
Changes  come  unbidden.  The  expected  career 
is  dislocated  and  vicissitudes  multiply.  We 
have  not  only  the  individual,  with  his  expecta- 
tions and  traits,  to  deal  with,  but  animate  and 
inanimate  nature,  and  a  fluid  social  environ- 
ment. Collision  and  contact  with  a  complex 
environment  precipitate  difficulties,  and  hour 
by  hour  maladjustments  threaten.  Evidently 
no  one  can  foresee  all  the  relations  of  life  for 
which  articulatory  knowledge  will  be  required. 
Yet  correspondence  with  environment,  life  it- 
self, depends  upon  the  presence  of  knowledge 
at  points  of  need. 

Admitting  the  difficulty  of  supplying  the  in- 
dividual with  knowledge  which  will  avail  at 
every  point  of  need,  there  can  be  no  question 
as  to  the  superlative  importance  of  equipping 

6 


The  Use  of  Information 

him  with  that  approximating  his  needs  as  nearly 
as  possible. 

One  should  be  supplied  with  knowledge  for 
at  least  the  more  frequent  exigencies.  The 
function  of  knowledge  is  peculiarly  well  illus- 
trated in  the  physician's  prescription.  He 
brings  experience  to  bear  upon  a  maladjust- 
ment, and  disease  is  diagnosed  and  a  remedy 
applied.  One's  stock  of  knowledge  should  as 
far  as  possible  enable  him  to  protect  himself 
against  maladjustment,  real  or  threatened.  In 
fact,  to  live  is  to  keep  oneself  in  conformity 
with  the  requirements  of  one's  surroundings, 
and  the  highest  wisdom  is  to  know  how  to  do  it. 
Of  this  knowledge  one  cannot  possess  too  much, 
and  of  it  he  should  possess  all  that  is  possible. 
Education  should  supply  knowledge  of  maximal 
value  in  effecting  the  articulation  between  or- 
ganism and  environment. 

Grant  that  with  the  fullest  and  most  careful 
pro\dsion  of  knowledge  there  would  exist  rela- 
tions for  which  one's  supply  of  knowledge 
would  be  insufficient,  and  many  of  such  exist. 
Yet  may  not  the  fundamental  relations  be  sin- 
gled out  and  utilised  as  principles  for  the  organ- 
isation and  inculcation  of  information?  A  can- 
vass of  the  fundamental  relations  which  people 
most  frequently  and  seriously  sustain  to  their 

7 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

environments  suggests  itself.  The  next  step  in 
the  efficiency  of  the  educative  process  is  a  study 
of  special  relations  and  needs,  and  the  formula- 
tion and  impartation  of  knowledge  specifically 
adapted  to  promote  adjustment.  Fundamental 
principles  governing  the  values  of  knowledge, 
and  surveys  reporting  the  dominant  needs, 
from  which  the  principles  may  be  derived,  are 
indispensable  for  a  rational  system  of  instruc- 
tion. There  is  need  of  standards  for  the  evalu- 
ation of  knowledge  based  upon  its  importance 
in  adjustment. 

As  a  step  toward  determining  what  classes 
of  facts  have  most  value  and  most  deserve  im- 
partation, it  seems  desirable  to  note  the  major 
social  relations  of  the  individual,  especially 
as  illustrated  in  economic  situations.  Some 
knowledge  values  may  fall  outside  of  economic 
category,  but  an  attempt  may  be  warranted  to 
classify  knowledge  and  appraise  its  values 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  three  fundamental 
social  processes  of  Production,  Distribution 
and  Consumption. 


8 


n 

The  Peoducer's  Knowledge 

The  production  of  wealth  lies  at  the  basis  of 
social  organisation  and  individual  well-being. 
Civilisation  advances  only  as  supported  by  ade- 
quate wealth  production.  The  slums  of  city 
and  country  exist  largely  by  reason  of  insuffi- 
cient wealth  on  which  to  base  the  higher  attain- 
ments. The  production  of  wealth,  implying 
participation  in  its  production  and  the  presence 
of  the  product,  is  fundamental  in  social  im- 
portance. 

In  view  of  the  basal  nature  of  production  we 
should  expect  to  find  an  extensive  knowledge 
associated  with  wealth-producing  processes. 
And  indeed  there  is  an  enormous  body  of  facts 
grouped  about  the  various  arts  concerned  with 
production.  Productional  knowledge  is  scat- 
tered everywhere  throughout  society.  Wher- 
ever values  are  created  by  primary  processes 
there  may  be  distinguished  the  tji^e  of  past  ex- 
perience to  which  the  world  owes  its  steady 
accumulation     of     useful     commodities.    The 

9 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

farmer,  weaver,  butcher,  blacksmith,  miner, 
bookbinder  and  fisherman  each  represent  a 
special  art  based  upon  and  concerned  with 
more  or  less  extensive  bodies  of  knowledge.  In 
some  cases  this  knowledge  is  of  the  merest  sort, 
a  thin  empiricism  barely  sufficient  for  the  ordi- 
nary needs  of  the  calling  and  failing  in  times 
of  exigency.  In  other  cases  the  empirical  be- 
ginnings of  the  science  related  to  the  art  have 
been  broadened  out  by  successive  generations 
of  workers  and  elevated  by  scholars  into  im- 
posing sciences. 

Knowledge  related  to  the  elementary  arts 
consists  largely  in  observations  of  the  be- 
haviour of  materials  and  experience  in  dealing 
with  them.  Many  workers  can  hardly  be  said 
even  to  possess  knowledge  touching  their  em- 
ployments. Learning  the  processes  by  imita- 
tion and  continuing  by  habit,  it  is  possible  for 
the  wealth  producer  to  illustrate  automatism 
rather  than  active  intelligence.  Conscious  ap- 
preciation of  the  truths  involved  in  produc- 
tional  processes  might,  however,  be  regarded 
as  an  ideal. 

In  the  building  up  of  a  science  from  its  em- 
pirical beginnings  quantities  of  experience  not 
closely  associated  with  production  may  be  in- 
corporated.   There  arises  a  bulk  of  knowledge, 

10 


The  Producer's  Knowledge 

within  itself  representing  all  grades  of  rele- 
vancy to  the  productional  art.  In  the  grading 
of  knowledge  for  instructional  purposes  there 
must  always  be  discrimination  between  that 
which  is  essential  to  production  and  that  which 
is  speculatively  or  logically  a  part  of  the  ex- 
tended science.  The  most  practical  science,  in 
origin  and  general  purpose,  may  become  hyper- 
organised  and  attenuated  beyond  evident  ap- 
plicability to  the  processes  of  wealth  produc- 
tion. 

Not  only  the  arts  of  the  miner,  fisherman, 
and  weaver  constitute  the  activities  of  produc- 
tion. Values  are  created  by  the  transportation 
of  commodities,  physically,  and  by  their  legal 
transference.  The  boatman,  the  express  com- 
pany, the  banker  and  the  attorney  participate 
in  wealth  production  in  a  real  though  secondary 
way.  Declarations  that  all  wealth  comes  from 
the  soil  or  that  the  farmer  is  the  only  producer 
overstate  the  case  against  the  secondary  pro- 
ducers,— who  not  infrequently  absorb  a  pri- 
mary portion  of  the  final  value. 

Most  important  of  all  are  the  services  of 
those  who  contribute  fertilising  ideas  at  any 
point  along  the  route  of  production.  Inventors, 
whether  of  machines  or  methods,  be  they  steam 
engines,  card  index  systems  or  savings  banks, 

11 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

supply  an  invaluable  element  in  the  produe- 
tional  process,  and  are  exponents  of  forms  of 
productional  knowledge  of  the  greatest  signifi- 
cance. 

The  legislator,  who  promotes  measures  for 
the  control  of  weeds  or  the  safety  of  wealth 
when  produced;  the  policeman,  who  chases 
burglars;  and  the  teacher,  who  dispenses  pro- 
ductional information  to  pupils,  alike  assist  in 
the  creation  of  goods.  In  fact  nearly  all  occu- 
pations have  originated  in  production,  and  most 
occupations  are  still  concerned  with  it  directly. 
Many  occupations,  however,  have  become 
quasi  parasitical,  and  indeed  few  of  the  occu- 
pations of  secondary  production  have  not  de- 
veloped a  partial  parasitism,  but  the  concern 
that  declares  100%  dividends  and  cuts  a 
"melon"  betimes  for  the  stockholders,  the  ur- 
ban plutocrat,  and  the  attorney  whose  fee  for  a 
single  case  exceeds  the  life  earnings  of  a  dozen 
average  producers  advance  the  production  of 
wealth,  though  it  may  be  from  only  a  single 
point  of  usefulness  surrounded  by  a  vast  pe- 
numbra of  parasitism.  The  productional  func- 
tion of  kings  was  undoubted  when  they  fought 
off  invaders  while  the  primary  producers  went 
about  their  business  unmolested.  Generally 
speaking,  every  occupation  is  the  centre  around 

12 


The  Producer's  Knotvledge 

which  an  amount  of  productional  knowledge  is 
organised. 

Every  form  of  useful  toil  and  all  serviceable 
emplojTnents  rest  upon  special  types  of  knowl- 
edge. Every  person,  so  far  as  he  is  a  producer, 
employs  knowledge  peculiar  to  wealth  creation. 
Non-producing  individuals,  or  parasites,  even 
if  possessing  productional  knowledge,  make  no 
use  of  it,  and  rarely  have  an  extensive  acquaint- 
ance with  such.  Workers  of  the  lowest  grades, 
the  unskilled,  are  notable  for  their  lack  of  pro- 
ductional information.  Factory  routine  is  in- 
consistent with  the  possession  of  an  ample 
amount  of  broader  productional  knowledge, 
and  the  operative  presents  a  sorry  appearance 
when  detached  from  the  niche  in  factory  serv- 
ice, by  which  he  has  become  limited  through 
years  of  labor.  There  is  an  intimate  relation 
between  the  kind  and  extent  of  one's  produc- 
tional knowledge  and  his  value  to  society,  his 
social  status  and  his  profit-taking  advantages. 
The  ranking  and  position  of  millions  of  wage 
earners  and  the  directors  of  industrial  enter- 
prises are  determined  largely  by  the  informa- 
tion possessed  as  to  processes. 

The  mine  operator  knows  much  about  the 
possibilities  of  mining  not  known  to  the  man  at 
the  mouth  of  the  shaft.    The  lumber  expert  by 

13 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

applying  high  forms  of  productional  knowledge 
assumes  a  position  of  immense  superiority  over 
the  chopper.  Each  producer  is  equipped  with  a 
measure  of  productional  knowledge  sufficing  to 
put  him  in  at  least  partial  adjustment  to  the 
wide  social  fact  of  production.  To  perfect 
one's  industrial  adjustment,  to  prepare  for  the 
ideal  relation  to  productivity,  and  to  achieve  a 
larger  measure  of  opportunity  and  equality 
with  others  in  dealing  with  the  forces  and  ma- 
terials which  produce  wealth  would,  however, 
require  a  far  more  general  diffusion  of  the  ma- 
jor facts  underlying  all  wealth  production  and 
a  laying  bare  of  much  esoteric  information  now 
closely  guarded. 

Productional  knowledge  is  of  all  forms  of 
knowledge  most  readily  appraised.  Of  what 
value  is  knowledge  of  how  to  kill  buffaloes  or 
make  coats  of  mail?  Inasmuch  as  such  knowl- 
edge could  not  be  marketed,  it  is  evident  that 
its  value,  as  related  to  the  production  of  values, 
would  be  zero.  It  might  have  other  than  pro- 
ductional values,  but  with  such  we  are  not  now 
concerned.  The  dollar  is  the  test  of  the  im- 
portance of  the  knowledge  of  production. 
That  knowledge  which  enables  one  to  do  things 
that  pay,  in  money,  and  make  things  that  sell 

14 


The  Producer's  Knowledge 

has  a  legitimate  claim  to  classification  as  pro- 
ductional. 

It  would  be  an  error  to  evaluate  all  knowl- 
edge as  we  here  evaluate  productional  knowl- 
edge. There  are  other  veiy  important  types 
of  knowledge  whose  values  are  not  commen- 
surable with  the  money  unit.  But  in  the  case 
of  the  type  of  knowledge  under  consideration 
there  is  the  satisfying  feature  of  definite  meas- 
urement in  unmistakable  terms.  It  is  perfectly 
proper  to  declare  such  and  such  knowledge 
worthless  or  of  slight  value,  when  speaking  of 
the  individual's  relation  to  the  productional 
feature  of  his  environment.  To  the  extent  to 
which  productional  knowledge  enters  into  the 
ideal  mental  equipment  we  may  know  with  fair 
certainty  the  value  of  many  facts  one  learns. 
What  these  values  are  for  particular  facts 
must  be  determined  in  particular  cases.  As 
the  judge  applies  principles  of  law  to  new  sets 
of  facts,  so  in  the  process  of  instruction  the 
money  test  is  to  be  applied  to  productional 
knowledge.  The  man  who  would  apply  the 
money  test  to  all  types  of  knowledge  is  not  more 
extreme  than  the  one  who  would  entirely  spurn 
the  money  test. 

Productional  knowledge  enables  one  to  come 
15 


The  Education  of  TtMrnomm 

into  smiable  adjustment  witii  the  pihase  of  his 
environment  eonsisting  of  the  arts  and  oeeopa- 
tions  whose  pnrpose  is  the  creation  of  wealth  by 
the  application  of  labor  and  intelligence  to  ma- 
terials which  nature  affords.  And,  one  should 
add,  the  creation  of  real  as  contrasted  with 
fictitions  valnes.  The  finesse  which  raises  the 
price  of  a  vacant  lot  to  an  absnrd  level  or  forces 
np  the  price  of  farm  lands  beyond  that  war- 
ranted by  what  they  will  prodnce  is  distinctly 
a  spurions  wealth  prodnction  resting  on  knowl- 
edge that  has  no  claim  to  be  classe^l  with  the 
sciences  of  production. 

The  possession  of  prodnctional  knowledge  of 
primary  nature  may  be  tested  by  what  one  can 
do,  what  he  can  make,  what  occupations  he  is 
master  of,  and,  in  many  cases,  by  the  ease  with 
which  he  secnres  gainful  employment.  The 
last  test,  is,  however,  an  illiisive  one,  as  history 
affords  examples  of  real  producers  starving 
and  nnemployed  while  those  possessing  little  or 
no  prodnctional  knowledge,  bnt  rather  profit- 
ing by  a  different  type  of  knowledge,  luxnriated 
in  the  goods  prodnced  by  those  who  alone  knew 
well  how  to  prodnce. 

The  feeling  of  helplessness  which  the  college 
graduate  sometimes  experiences  when  his  insti- 
tntional  education  is  completed  and  he  is  abont 

16 


The  Producer's  Knozcledge 

to  plunge  into  the  activities  of  mature  years 
often  represents  a  pancity  of  prodnctional 
facts,  though  such  feeling  of  helplessness  may 
coexist  with  a  fair  supply  of  the  elementary 
knowledge  of  production,  as  how  to  hoe  com 
or  feed  sheep.  Many  a  person  feels  the  hollow 
sham  of  a  life  poorly  adjusted  to  prodnctional 
arts.  Only  by  extensive  class  training  may  one 
subdue  the  instinctive  demand  for  that  knowl- 
edge which  enables  one  to  produce.  The  deep- 
est needs  of  human  nature  are  honoured  in  learn- 
ing how  to  make  things  and  fabricate  crude 
materials  into  tools  and  further  products. 
This  knowledge  exists  in  the  consciousness  of 
multitudes  of  workers,  in  many  cases  never  hav- 
ing been  committed  to  print;  in  the  nooks  and 
comers  of  labour ;  in  books  and  technical  publi- 
cations; and  scattered  thinly  throughout  liter- 
ature; for  example,  the  "parable  of  the  sower" 
is  a  lesson  in  farming.  The  conventional 
studies  of  the  schools,  as  the  three  K's,  eon- 
tribute  in  some  degree  to  the  fund  of  prodnc- 
tional information.  The  carpenter  employs 
reading,  writing  and  arithmetic  when  he  notes 
descriptions  and  sets  down  calculations  for  the 
building  of  a  table  or  chair.  The  prodnctional 
value  of  knowledge  seemingly  unrelated  to  pro- 
duction is  suggested  when  one  calls  to  mind 

17 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

that  the  chair  by  common  consent  the  most  ad- 
mirable was  produced  by  a  poet  and  a  dreamer 
— the  Morris  chair. 

The  natural  sciences  embody  large  amounts 
of  the  knowledge  of  production,  and  their  prog- 
ress is  synchronous  with  the  increase  of  the 
world's  wealth.  A  distinction  is  possible,  how- 
ever, in  the  productional  and  the  non-produc- 
tional  content  of  the  various  sciences,  as  phys- 
ics, biology,  chemistry  and  geology.  In  the 
main  production  has  looked  to  science  and  sci- 
ence has  aimed  to  assist  production. 

Productional  values  appear  in  all  the  sci- 
ences dealing  with  man,  as  sociology,  physi- 
ology, psychology  and  medicine.  In  Cuban 
cigar  factories  readers  are  said  to  be  employed 
to  read  to  the  cigar  makers  as  they  work,  evi- 
dently the  result  being  not  unfavourable  to  the 
output.  The  poet  who  inspires  men  with  ambi- 
tion resulting  in  increased  activity,  or  the  mu- 
sician who  invigorates  to  determined  effort 
conduces  as  truly  to  the  wealth  total  as  the 
most  energetic  captain  of  industry.  Literature 
and  art  are  not  to  be  overlooked  in  tracing  the 
knowledge  which  affects  the  stream  of  wealth. 
One  may  easily  undervalue  the  contributions  of 
the  less  evidently  productional  types  of  knowl- 

18 


The  Producer's  KTWtvledge 

edge,  and,  while  properly  laying  stress  upon  the 
fact  that  directly  functions  for  wealth,  err  in 
denying  productional  values  to  the  more  ab- 
stract mental  products. 


19 


in 

The  Science  of  Distribution 

Wealth  once  produced  is  distributed  among 
the  individuals  comprising  society.  Produc- 
tion is  the  first  step,  distribution  the  second. 
If  one  could  imagine  a  state  in  which  production 
occurred  without  social  effort  and  in  which 
every  one  enjoyed  exactly  what  he  produced, 
there  would  be  no  elaborate  social  process  of 
distribution  giving  rise  to  a  peculiar  type  of 
knowledge.  Modem  production  requires  the 
concerted  efforts  of  many  individuals,  and 
rarely  does  the  producer  see  before  him  the 
completed  article,  or  have  tangible  evidence  of 
the  exact  degree  to  which  he  has  contributed  to 
the  values  of  manufactured  goods.  Even  the 
most  solitary  savage,  making  his  bow  and  ar- 
rows in  the  seclusion  of  a  hidden  cave,  could 
hardly  be  said  to  have  produced  these  without 
social  assistance,  if  not  in  the  gathering  of  the 
materials,  at  least  in  obtaining  the  ideas  con- 
trolling their  manufacture ;  and  certainly  when 

20 


The  Science  of  Distribution 

produced  these  implements  were  of  social 
service.  The  credit  for  the  production  of  even 
the  simplest  article  of  wealth  is  diffused  among 
numbers  of  people,  and  no  one  can  say  he  is 
the  sole  producer  concerned.  The  privilege  of 
sharing  in  the  value  created  by  many  is  ac- 
cordingly asserted  by  many,  and  the  stream  of 
wealth  is  tapped  at  many  points  by  rule  of 
law,  custom,  and  agreement  as  well  as  by  fraud, 
strategy  and  imposition.  Property  has  a  so- 
cial origin  and  a  social  destination. 

A  complex  social  mechanism  for  the  inter- 
change of  commodities  has  been  developed  along 
with  socialised  production.  The  man  who 
raises  more  wheat  than  he  can  use  makes  use 
of  the  social  machinery  for  the  interchange  of 
goods  when  he  sells  his  excess  wheat  and  buys 
in  turn  coffee  or  nails.  Ships,  freight  cars  and 
banks  are  called  into  existence  because  of  the 
need  of  the  primary  producer  to  exchange  his 
goods  for  the  products  of  others.  Transpor- 
tation and  banking  are  activities  not  less  im- 
portant than  those  represented  by  mines  and 
farms.  The  producer  must  of  necessity  rely 
upon  the  activities  of  others  for  transportation 
and  allied  services.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however, 
that  in  the  losing  hold  of  his  goods,  as  he  must, 
the  producer  is  exposed  to  evils,  especially  that 

21 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

of  not  securing  in  return  for  his  goods  their 
fair  equivalent. 

The  importance  of  suitable  adjustment  to  dis- 
tribution, of  adequate  participation  in  what  has 
been  produced,  is  greater  than  that  of  adjust- 
ment to  mere  production.  One  must  be  in  ad- 
justment with  the  social  process  of  distribution, 
he  must  share  in  the  product,  or  he  perishes. 
One  can  live  without  being  a  producer,  but 
share  in  distribution  he  must.  Maladjustment 
at  this  point  is  beggary  or  death. 

Adjustment  to  the  distributional  phase  of 
one 's  environment  is  effected  by  the  application 
of  a  type  of  knowledge  radically  different  from 
that  concerned  with  production.  Indeed  one 
may  be  adept  as  a  producer  and  so  inept  in  dis- 
tributional knowledge  that  his  existence  is 
threatened.  Consider  the  skilled  slave  as  an 
example,  or  the  peasant.  Possessing  fair  pro- 
ductional  knowledge,  these  suffer  exploitation 
because  of  lack  of  the  type  of  knowledge  which 
functions  in  distribution.  The  peasant,  the 
slave,  and  expropriated  workers,  ancient  and 
modern,  represent  knowledge  of  how  to  produce 
but  lack  of  knowledge  as  efficient  distributees. 
On  the  other  hand,  versed  in  distributional 
knowledge,  individuals  may  substitute  them- 
selves in  the  place  of  deserving  producers  and 

22 


The  Science  of  Distribution 

maintaiii  themselves  in  advantageous  adjust- 
ment to  wealth. 

Knowledge  makes  the  difference  between  the 
effective  producer  and  the  individual  incapable 
of  production,  and  likewise  special  knowledge 
distinguishes  the  efficient  distributee  from  the 
inefficient  distributee.  It  has  been  the  fortune 
of  humanity  that  distributional  knowledge 
should  have  been  often  restricted  to  classes, 
while  in  turn  productional  knowledge  has  also 
been  a  class  possession.  But  since  to  share  in 
wealth  is  vastly  more  advantageous  than  merely 
to  produce,  the  classes  characterised  by  distri- 
butional knowledge  have  uniformly  fattened  and 
developed  while  the  highly  deserving  producer 
has  historically  gone  scantily  fed  and  poorly 
clad.  It  avails  little  that  one  be  an  efficient 
producer  unless  he  be  qualified  as  a  distribu- 
tee. To  qualify  as  such  he  must  acquire  a 
special  type  of  knowledge. 

This  t}i)e  of  knowledge  or  experience  is  that 
which  makes  one  a  successful  taker  of  wealth  as 
distinguished  from  that  which  enables  one  to  be 
a  successful  maker  or  producer.  It  is  that 
which  functions  in  the  securing  of  advantageous 
prices  for  labour  or  commodities,  incomes,  sal- 
aries, revenues  and  grants.  This  iyj>Q  of  ex- 
perience is  associated  with  the  taking  of  profits, 

23 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

whether  competitive  or  monopoly  profits,  rents 
and  interest.  The  doctrines  built  up  with  ref- 
erence to  the  descent  of  property  by  inheritance 
are  an  important  phase  of  distributional  knowl- 
edge and  inure  to  the  benefit  of  the  classes  who 
already  possess  wealth.  The  network  of  laws 
guiding  the  destination  of  wealth,  and  govern- 
mental methods,  are  a  part  of  the  body  of  dis- 
tributional knowledge. 

A  peculiarity  of  distributional  knowledge  is 
its  traditional  character.  The  sanctity  of  age 
attaches  to  the  customs,  laws  and  constitutions 
embodying  the  maxims  and  experiences  form- 
ing the  property  code.  This  type  of  knowledge 
functions  for  the  benefit  of  individuals  often 
without  activity  on  their  part.  Long  estab- 
lished distributional  experience  makes  the 
casual  heir  or  the  scion  of  privilege  its  ben- 
eficiary without  initiative  on  his  part.  The 
king,  the  nobility,  the  aristocracy,  the  law- 
makers and  men  at  points  of  economic  strategy 
throughout  society  continue  the  practices  of 
successful  distributees  of  the  past,  impress  upon 
society  the  rules  under  which  distribution  has 
heretofore  taken  place,  and  upon  occasion  re- 
adjust the  rules  for  their  advantage. 

Thus  it  has  come  about  that  there  is  no  fiuxed 
relation  between  one's  productional  efficiency 

24 


The  Science  of  Distribution 

and  his  efficiency  as  a  taker  or  distributee.  In 
many  cases  the  eminent  producer  is  the  eminent 
taker.  In  a  multitude  of  instances,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  individual  receives  only  enough,  un- 
der the  law  of  wages,  to  enable  his  continued 
production,  regardless  of  the  extent  to  which 
he  contributes  to  the  total  of  wealth  production. 
Wages  bear  no  fixed  relation  to  the  profits  of 
a  business.  In  fact  the  separation  of  produc- 
tion from  distribution  is  evidenced  by  the  ab- 
sence of  any  attempt  to  appraise  exactly  what 
each  producer  really  adds  to  the  total  of  wealth. 
The  parasite,  complete  or  partial,  may  accord- 
ingly take  more  wealth  than  efficient  producers. 
Distributional  efficiency  implies  a  good  knowl- 
edge of  popular  psychology.  A  recent  writer  ^ 
notes  the  surpassing  skill  with  which  upper 
class  Englishmen  assert  their  claims  to  privi- 
lege by  the  merest  shading  of  behaviour  and  sub- 
tle revelations  of  expectations  of  deference. 
A  delicate  effulgence  of  personality  compelling 
subjugation  is  one  of  the  priceless  inheritances 
of  wealth-taking  classes.  The  momentum  ac- 
quired at  an  earlier  time  by  means  of  preten- 
tious establishments  suffices  to  compel  a  respect, 
in  non-democratic  countries  at  least,  conducing 
to  perquisites  and  distinct  allowances  from  the 

1  Collier,  Price:     "England  and  the  English." 
25 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

social  wealth.  Even  in  America,  courts  in 
passing  upon  the  validity  of  contracts  to  which 
wealthy  infants  are  a  party  and  in  determining 
the  sufficiency  of  allowances  for  minors  and 
others  recognise  the  former  state  of  the  individ- 
ual and  his  accustomed  scale  of  living  as  guid- 
ing principles.  A  nobleman  arrested  in 
Chicago  for  vagrancy  made  what  was  his- 
torically a  legitimate  plea  when  he  argued  that 
being  a  nobleman  he  was  exempt  from  work. 

Long  experience  has  taught  successful  dis- 
tributees the  value  of  show,  trappings,  elabor- 
ate garb,  ceremony,  hauteur  and  conventional 
sanctions  as  related  to  the  facility  with  which 
incomes  may  be  enjoyed  and  adjustment  to  the 
social  process  of  distribution  maintained.  Such 
experience  has  crystallised  into  quasi  esoteric 
knowledge  distinguishing  eminent  takers. 

Under  modem  conditions  the  most  efficient 
distributional  knowledge  is  perhaps  that  func- 
tioning in  the  operation  of  trusts  and  monop- 
olies. The  organisation  and  inwardness  of 
great  corporations  have  been  relatively  obscure 
to  the  general  public  while  inuring  to  colossal 
fortunes  of  small  numbers.  Even  when  trust 
organisation  is  understood  in  outline  by  the 
rank  and  file  of  producers,  ignorance  of  how  to 
proceed  to  correct  and  equalise  the  flow  of  so- 

26 


The  Science  of  Distribution 

cial  wealth  leaves  the  distributional  experts,  the 
trust  promoters  and  their  attorneys,  in  prac- 
tically undisturbed  possession. 

In  the  ordinary  pursuits  of  a  complex  society 
many  illustrations  of  the  critical  nature  of 
special  distributional  knowledge  will  occur  to 
one.  The  banker  represents  a  type  of  knowl- 
edge which  brings  almost  certain  rewards  often 
quite  in  disproportion  to  services  rendered. 
He  is  the  beneficiary  of  occupational  expe- 
riences and  an  expert  in  applying  a  type  of 
knowledge  to  income  purposes.  The  middle- 
man, while  performing  a  legitimate  function  un- 
der present  conditions,  would  find  his  occupa- 
tion gone  did  the  primary  producers  command 
sufficient  distributional  knowledge,  did  pro- 
ducers know  how  to  organise.  Milk  producers, 
to  whom  by  any  fair  appraisal  of  services  and 
risks  should  be  allowed  a  major  share  of  the 
price  to  the  consumer,  receive  quite  commonly 
in  the  cities  some  two  cents  to  the  middleman's 
eight  cents  of  the  ten  cents  paid  by  the  con- 
sumer. This  discrepancy  registers  the  igno- 
rance of  distributional  knowledge  on  the  part  of 
the  milk  producer  and  its  possession  by  the 
middleman.  Inability  to  get  one's  price  meas- 
ures his  ignorance  of  the  knowledge  of  distribu- 
tion, or  the  ignorance  of  the  class  to  which  he 

27 


Tlie  Education  of  To-morrow 

belongs  and  by  whose  ignorance  he  is  bound. 
There  can  be  little  question  as  to  the  contribu- 
tions to  the  wealth  total  made  respectively  by 
a  competent  president  of  a  great  state  univer- 
sity and  a  supreme  court  judge  in  the  state  of 
New  York.  Each,  inheriting  the  results  of  dis- 
tributional knowledge  associated  with  the  law 
or  with  teaching,  profits  as  judge  or  suffers  as 
academician  to  the  extent  of  thousands  of  dol- 
lars a  year  by  comparison,  regardless  of  their 
contributions  to  production.  The  attorney  who 
affixes  a  large  red  seal,  made  unnecessary  by 
statute,  because  his  client  will  more  willingly 
pay  a  sizable  fee  for  an  impressive  document, 
is  an  example  of  a  type  of  exploitative  func- 
tionary. Eake-offs,  undue  profits,  excessive 
fees,  and  trade  tricks,  collateral  oftentimes  with 
legitimate  services  and  values,  attest  the  dis- 
junction of  the  producer's  and  the  distributee's 
knowledge  and  prove  the  peculiar  advantages  of 
the  latter. 

Poverty  may  be  caused  either  by  lack  of  pro- 
ductional  knowledge  or  the  lack  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  distribution.  Frequently  it  is  the  lat- 
ter. To  know  how  to  produce  is  not  enough. 
One  must  enter  into  the  special  knowledge 
which  qualifies  for  participating  in  the  division 
of  values  if  he  is  to  avoid  poverty. 

28 


The  Science  of  Distribution 

Inasmuch  as  all  the  rules  and  practices  of 
distribution  rest  ultimately  upon  government, 
existing  by  authorisation  of  law  or  tacit  permis- 
sion of  lawmaking  bodies,  the  test  of  qualifica- 
tions with  reference  to  the  knowledge  of 
distribution  may  fairly  be  said  to  be  one 's  civic 
enlightenment.  Knowledge  of  how  to  vote  me- 
chanically is  now  universal,  but  knowing  how 
to  produce  desired  effects  by  use  of  the  ballot 
is  in  its  infancy.  The  election  of  false  leaders, 
the  lack  of  control  over  leaders  once  chosen  by 
ballot,  the  indirectness  of  expression  of  opin- 
ion by  the  personal  ballot,  and  the  indifference 
which  prevails  as  to  legislation  in  progress 
alike  attest  a  widespread  ignorance  of  the  re- 
lation of  government  to  distribution  and  general 
welfare. 

Indeed  so  undeveloped  is  the  faculty  con- 
cerned with  the  central  means  of  control  over 
distribution,  government,  that  in  large  num- 
bers of  instances,  involving  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  voters,  the  strike  is  preferred  to  the 
effective  means  of  correcting  faulty  distribu- 
tion, that  of  governmental  action.  The  indi- 
vidual or  class  suffering  maladjustment  to 
environment  expressed  in  terms  of  income 
should  strike,  not  blindly  or  violently  as  so 
commonly  occurs,  but  rather  by  means  of  special 

29 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

knowledge  applied  through  political  channels  to 
the  general  mechanism  of  distribution,  the  faults 
of  which  they  seek  to  correct.  To  strike  at  the 
polls  would  evince  a  higher  degree  of  economic 
insight,  inasmuch  as  laws  and  customs  amend- 
able by  law,  comprise  the  code  regulating  the 
apportionment  of  wealth. 

Enormous  wealth  centralised  in  few  hands, 
concomitant  with  extreme  poverty  as  seen  in 
slums  comprising  half  a  city^s  population; 
vast  sums  bestowed  at  the  caprice  of  owners  in 
the  disposition  of  which  the  public  has  no  voice ; 
the  expropriation  of  great  numbers,  and  swol- 
len fortunes;  the  intrusion  of  the  agents  of 
wealth  in  legislatures,  courts,  and  the  press; 
the  testimony  of  probate  courts  showing  the 
small  minority  leaving  estates  of  any  value ;  the 
increasing  amount  of  tenancy  in  city  dwellings 
and  upon  farms;  the  reduction  of  great  num- 
bers to  profitless  salaried  and  wage  positions — 
these  are  evidences  of  ignorance  among  pro- 
ducers with  reference  to  the  knowledge  func- 
tioning for  distribution. 

Distributional  knowledge  in  part  is  knowl- 
edge of  law  and  how  to  effect  changes  in  the 
laws.  It  includes  knowing  how  to  organise 
bodies,  how  to  conduct  meetings,  how  to  make 
parliamentary  motions,  how  to  draw  bills,  and 

30 


The  Science  of  Distribution 

to  direct  legislation.  Economic  history,  soci- 
ology, civic  and  political  science,  psychology, 
economic  histoiy  and  theories,  constitutional 
law,  comparative  legislation,  and  jurispru- 
dence represent  this  type  of  knowledge.  A 
very  large  body  of  knowledge  essential  in  the 
distributional  relationship  is  that  to  be  de- 
rived from  the  inner  workings  of  concerns  and 
offices  indentified  with  large  incomes.  The 
gazetting  of  the  actual  incomes  received  by 
various  distributees  and  more  exact  knowledge 
of  how  incomes  are  actually  secured,  by  what 
services  rendered,  would  tend  to  democratise 
society  in  economic  relations.  At  present  the 
incomes  of  the  public  employe,  the  teacher  and 
the  postal  clerk,  are  listed  for  general  perusal, 
whereas  the  incomes,  large  or  small,  of  num- 
bers, drawn  likewise  from  the  total  of  social 
wealth,  are  unknown  even  to  the  tax  assessor. 
The  revelations  as  to  income  which  would  fol- 
low an  income  tax  would  form  no  unimportant 
part  of  the  information  needed  to  equip  the 
public  for  dealing  with  the  question  of  distri- 
bution. 

The  knowledge  of  distribution  would  be  im- 
perfect indeed  if  it  failed  to  include  any  science 
that  might  be  organised  as  to  the  reasonable- 
ness of  unequal  incomes.    So  far  as  possible, 

31 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

principles  consistent  with  a  high  level  of  pro- 
duction and  general  welfare  should  be  formu- 
lated regulating  the  flow  of  wealth  to  indi- 
viduals and  providing  for  such  inequalities  of 
income  as  social  welfare  demands.  However 
incomplete  such  a  formulation  might  be,  it 
could  not  be  less  acceptable  than  a  traditional 
code  that  directs  a  lordly  current  of  income  to 
an  immured  imbecile,  commands  the  efforts  of 
thousands  of  underpaid  department  store  girls 
in  behalf  of  a  brace  of  adolescents,  and  sur- 
prises collateral  heirs  with  the  riches  of  a  de- 
cedent who  was  but  faintly  aware  of  their  ex- 
istence. 

The  importance  of  distributional  knowledge 
is  proved  by  the  appointment  of  a  country  life 
commission  by  President  Roosevelt,  the  pur- 
pose of  which  was  to  inquire  into  the  rea- 
sons for  the  low  standard  of  living  and  relative 
submergence  of  the  American  farmer,  repre- 
senting over  one-third  of  the  national  popula- 
tion. Here  is  a  class  of  primary  producers, 
never  charged  with  lack  of  industry  or  avoid- 
ance of  hardship,  at  such  economic  disadvan- 
tage that  their  condition  becomes  the  concern 
of  publicists.  While  the  farmer  was  found  to 
lack  to  some  extent  in  productional  knowledge, 

32 


The  Science  of  Distribution 

it  was  clear  that  he  chiefly  lacked  in  making 
himself  felt  as  entitled  to  distribution.  Prices 
both  upon  what  he  sells  and  what  he  buys  have 
been  set  for  him  by  others,  naturally  to  his  dis- 
advantage. Only  civic  and  political  insight 
can  avail  to  lift  him  from  semi-serfdom,  unless 
he  be  lifted  through  the  charitable  efforts  of 
those  who  identify  his  prosperity  with  their  af- 
fluence. 

A  test  of  one's  productional  knowledge  was 
found  to  be  what  one  can  make,  what  goods  he 
can  prepare  for  use,  what  he  can  do  to  increase 
the  world's  supply  of  commodities.  A  test  of 
one's  distributional  knowledge,  or  a  test  of 
that  of  the  class  with  which  one  is  identified,  is 
rather  how  much  one's  income  is,  how  much 
wealth  he  receives,  how  much  he  possesses. 
Rarely  indeed  would  the  amount  received  ex- 
actly measure  the  amount  produced,  while  dis- 
crepancies would  be  the  rule. 

It  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  knowledge  of 
both  production  and  distribution  are  not  found 
in  the  same  individual.  Fortunately  this  is 
very  often  the  case,  indeed  almost  ine\'itable. 
The  knowledge  of  the  expert  bank  burglar,  as 
such,  is  that  of  distribution,  and  his  whole 
career    might    illustrate    complete    exemption 

33 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

from  production.  The  slave,  on  the  other  hand, 
would  exemplify  production  only.  Between 
such  extremes  the  various  classes  represent  the 
active  employment  of  the  two  types  of  know- 
ledge in  differing  combinations. 


34 


IV 

Knowing  How  To  Consume 

Speciaij  types  of  knowledge  are  organised,  as 
we  have  seen,  about  the  social  processes  of 
production  and  distribution.  To  a  remarkable 
degree  the  knowledge  which  exists  under  the 
various  sciences  may  be  referred  to  economic 
processes.  Let  us  pursue  the  classification  of 
knowledge  by  economic  principles  still  further 
and  try  to  discover  whether  or  not  there  is  a 
fairly  well-defined  group  of  experiences  pre- 
served as  conscious  knowledge  related  to  the 
final  link  in  the  economic  chain,  consumption. 
Any  individual  sustains  a  multitude  of  special 
relations  to  his  environment,  but  perhaps  prac- 
tically all  these  many  relations  may  be  referred 
to  one  or  another  of  the  three  economic  cate- 
gories. Do  not  production,  distribution  and 
consumption  comprise  all  one's  relations,  es- 
pecially if  by  consumption  we  understand  the 
individual's  relations  to  all  that  may  be  en- 
joyed, appreciated  and  made  use  of?  If  we  in- 
clude as  consumptional  knowledge  that  which 

35 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

tends  to  maintain  the  consumer  in  fit  physical 
and  mental  condition  for  the  consumptional  re- 
lation to  environment,  there  seems  little  chance 
of  error  in  applying  economic  terms  in  the 
classification  of  experiences. 

Wealth  is  produced,  is  distributed  according 
to  social  experience  or  knowledge,  and  the 
knowledge  underlying  skill  as  individual 
takers,  and  passes  to  its  final  stage  in  consump- 
tion. It  is  obvious  that  efficient  consumers 
must  employ  an  extensive  amount  of  knowl- 
edge in  the  supreme  relation  of  use.  The  use 
of  things  produced  surely  must  imply  the  ap- 
plication of  a  multitude  of  past  experiences 
existing  as  organised  sciences  or  as  informal 
information. 

The  importance  of  such  knowledge  may  be 
inferred  from  instances  where  it  is  lacking. 
The  ignorance  existing  among  primitive  peo- 
ples with  respect  to  the  use  of  articles  con- 
sumed with  appreciation  by  the  civilised  is  in 
point.  Works  of  art,  musical  instruments, 
complex  tools  and  mechanisms,  soap,  literature, 
and  various  foods  of  civilisation  have  no  mean- 
ing or  use  for  the  native  of  Queensland  or 
Borneo.  The  aborigines  lack  in  experience  for 
the  consumptional  relation.  A  similar  short- 
age of  experience  is  revealed  in  cases  where 

36 


Knowing  How  to  Consume 

men  who  perhaps  have  been  notable  producers 
and  immense  takers  of  wealth  find  themselves 
unable  to  enjoy  widely.  One  may  be  a  trained 
producer  and  an  efficient  taker  of  wealth  and 
yet  be  a  highly  inefficient  consumer.  The  case 
of  the  retired  farmer  is  often  cited  as  an  ex- 
ample of  an  individual  lacking  in  knowledge  of 
how  to  consume.  After  a  lifetime  spent  in 
creating  and  accumulating  a  competency,  he 
often  finds  his  range  of  enjoyments  is  small 
indeed. 

Primary  consumption  has  to  do  with  food, 
clothing  and  housing.  The  need  of  special 
knowledge  to  enable  one  to  adjust  himself 
properly  to  these  cannot  be  questioned.  The 
food  relation  covers  many  particulars,  rang- 
ing from  table  manners  to  scientific  dietaries. 
Education  with  reference  to  the  standard  of 
living  bears  directly  upon  quality  and  kinds  of 
foods,  the  texture  and  fashions  of  clothing,  and 
the  sanitation  and  conveniences  of  homes. 
Maladjustment  to  the  consumptional  relation 
in  these  respects  is  revealed  in  ill-cooked,  un- 
wisely selected  foods,  unhygienic  and  uncom- 
fortable clothes  and  poorly  appointed  houses, 
coexisting  with  the  material  means  of  better- 
ment. A  lack  of  consumptional  knowledge 
frequently  appears  in  connection  with  produc- 

37 


21  ^on; 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

tional  and  distributional  inefficiency,  but  con- 
sumptional  ignorance  may  easily  be  distin- 
guished. 

This  type  of  knowledge  is  particularly  in- 
volved in  maintaining  physical  well-being. 
Good  health  and  high  bodily  efficiency  afford 
an  indispensable  basis  for  happy  correspond- 
ence with  environment  and  appreciation  of 
whatever  Mnd.  The  prevalence  of  disease  and 
untimely  death,  the  mistreatment  of  the  body 
by  neglect,  medicines  or  overstrain,  faulty 
regimen  and  aches  and  pains  argue  ignorance 
of  knowledge  of  prime  importance.  Hygienic 
information  accordingly  ranks  high  in  the  con- 
sumptional  relation. 

The  requirements  of  rational  family  life  are 
met  best  with  the  assistance  of  knowledge 
gleaned  from  cultured  and  well-ordered  family 
experiences.  It  is  probably  not  extravagant 
to  say  that  but  a  mere  fraction  of  the  total  num- 
ber of  families  are  at  all  exemplary  in  their 
standards  or  would  not  profit  immensely  by  ac- 
quiring different  ideals.  Certainly  in  the  care 
of  the  child  ignorance  prevails  widely,  and  the 
disastrous  blunders  of  even  well-intentioned 
parents  in  engaging  the  respect  and  confidence 
of  their  children  and  shaping  them  into  ad- 
mirable characters  are  illustrated  in  every  com- 

38 


Knowing  How  to  Consume 

munity, — often  in  families  prominent  for  ef- 
ficiency in  other  lines.  The  science  of  rearing 
children  physically  and  mentally  comprises,  in 
view  of  the  critical  relation  of  family  life  to 
individual  welfare,  either  of  parent  or  child, 
wife  or  husband,  no  slight  portion  of  the  knowl- 
edge which  is  particularly  concerned  with  con- 
sumption. 

In  the  spending  of  money  there  is  required 
an  amount  of  consumptional  knowledge  too 
often  lacking.  Consider  the  number  of  occa- 
sions during  a  year  when  one  buys  something, 
especially  if  charged  with  the  expenditure  of 
family  funds.  How  often  indecision  and  worry 
attest  the  lack  of  such  information  as  makes 
for  the  wisest  purchasing.  The  commonest 
articles  of  purchase,  as  food  and  clothing, 
make  demands  upon  one's  store  of  information 
which  he  is  fortunate  if  able  to  meet.  The  ex- 
tent of  unwise  or  ignorant  purchasing  is  very 
large,  few  consumers  being  well  prepared  to 
buy  with  knowledge  of  materials  and  cost  of 
manufacture.  Faulty  taste  claims  victims  by 
the  ten  thousand  and  even  gives  character  to 
manufacturing  enterprises.  It  was  Stevenson, 
I  believe,  who  said  he  could  better  endure  the 
paying  of  too  much  for  a  thing  than  the  finding 
out  that  he  had  bought  something  he  did  not 

39 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

want.  The  number  of  things  bought  which  one 
by  any  cultivated  standard  of  taste  ought  not 
to  want  is  not  small.  Grant  that  tastes  differ, 
so  do  opinions  on  any  subject  until  the  unanim- 
ity of  the  wise  is  attained.  For  some  diver- 
gence of  taste  there  is  good  reason,  but  for  the 
avoidance  of  crudities  and  often  expensive  bar- 
barisms in  material  possessions  can  it  be 
doubted  that  there  is  need  of  the  development 
and  popularisation  of  a  science  of  what  to 
want  and  what  to  buy? 

Such  knowledge  as  bears  upon  judging  the 
worth  and  excellence  of  objects  viewed  or  pur- 
chased, whether  works  of  art  or  millinery  and 
textiles,  architectural  plans  or  plush  uphol- 
stery, is  consumptional.  From  one  point  of 
view,  civilisation  is  the  acquiring  of  wants,  and 
the  character  of  civilisation  is  determined  by 
what  wants  have  precedence.  The  knowledge 
which  illuminates  wants  and  guides  in  deciding 
what  wants  to  satisfy  and  what  wants  to 
modify,  resist  or  promote,  evidently  is  of  the 
most  fundamental  character. 

Especially  in  connection  with  avowed  recrea- 
tion and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  is  the  need 
of  cultural  guidance  experienced.  The  ''work 
conscience"  characteristic  of  not  a  few  faith- 
ful producers,  a  conscience  which  makes  holi- 

40 


Knowina  How  to  Consume 

day  seem  unholy,  demonstrates  how  completely 
consumptional  interests  may  be  atrophied,  it 
matters  not  whether  by  influences  of  puritan- 
ism  or  as  a  result  of  occupational  concentration 
of  attention.  The  ideal  of  enjojTuent  belongs 
to  consumptional  science.  To  the  child  play  is 
the  main  business  of  life.  It  might  well  be 
part  of  the  main  business  of  everybody's  life, 
all  becoming  free  in  spirit,  unhaunted  by  self- 
reproach  in  hours  of  diversion. 

Play  and  recreation  are  social  in  their  na- 
ture and  involve  relations  with  others.  Self- 
ish enjoyment  is  almost  a  contradiction  in 
terms.  Whatever  knowledge  bears,  then,  upon 
fitness  for  social  relationships  forms  part  of 
the  total  of  consumptional  science.  How  to 
dress  acceptably,  how  to  converse  with  profit, 
how  to  deal  pleasantly  with  others  are  included 
in  that  body  of  experiences  which  further  ad- 
justment to  consumption. 

A  special  knowledge  underlies  appreciation 
of  literature,  music  and  art.  One  must  be 
trained  to  appreciate.  That  knowledge  which 
effects  an  understanding  of  the  finer  things  is 
peculiarly  that  of  consumption.  The  range  of 
human  enjojTuent  is  from  crude  appetite  to 
things  esthetic.  Many  a  residence,  landscape, 
town,  city,  back  yard  and  railroad  station  are 

41 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

to  be  found  which  might  be  transformed  under 
widely  diffused  knowledge  qualifying  the  pub- 
lic to  appraise  the  beautiful  and  resent  the 
ugly.  As  with  material  objects  so  with 
thoughts  and  sentiments.  Certain  types  of 
published  matter  would  lose  their  hold  were 
knowledge  of  what  to  read  and  admire  more 
available. 

That  knowledge  is  consumptional  which 
bears  upon  the  enjoyment  of  utilities  of  any 
kind.  The  more  highly  prepared  one  is  to 
utilise  and  enjoy  a  variety  of  goods  and  values 
the  more  fully  he  represents  sufficiency  of  this 
knowledge.  The  consumption  of  goods  is  es- 
pecially characteristic  of  leisure  and  leisured 
classes,  who  are  above  all  others  equipped  with 
experience  as  consumers.  Eecreation  and  re- 
tirement, holidays,  vacations  and  periods  of 
freedom  from  productive  labour  are  particu- 
larly identified  with  the  consumptional  process. 

The  inefficient  consumer  cares  little  about 
many  utilities  and  is  characterised  by  meagre 
tastes,  few  desires,  slight  discrimination  among 
values  and  non-appreciation  of  the  arts  which 
adorn  leisure  and  thrive  in  luxurious  surround- 
ings. The  man  who  has  few  interests  to  fill 
in  his  leisure  periods  or  engage  him  in  joy- 
ful exercises  may  be  classed  as  lacking  in  con- 

42 


Knowing  How  to  Consume 

sumptional  knowledge,  no  matter  how  able  a 
producer  of  wealth  in  his  working  hours  or  how 
proficient  as  a  distributee. 

Consumptional  knowledge  may  abound  in 
those  who  produce  little  and  have  little.  The 
cultured  hobo  serves  for  illustration.  While  in 
many  cases  there  is  a  dearth  of  consumptional 
standards,  in  other  cases  the  individual  has 
more  desires  than  he  can  gratify,  desires 
which  he  could  gratify  with  more  wealth. 
Whether  in  all  cases  with  increase  in  wealth 
the  individual  would  increase  his  consumption 
wisely  is  open  to  question.  While  the  consum- 
ing power  is  indefinitely  large  in  a  community, 
ever  beyond  the  power  of  available  wealth  to 
satisfy,  it  does  not  follow  that  were  wealth  af- 
forded for  the  satisfaction  of  wants,  consump- 
tion would  follow  well-chosen  lines.  There  is 
need  of  education  for  wise  consumption. 
Long  experience  on  the  part  of  favoured  classes 
results  in  adroit  consumption.  Below  the  level 
of  riches,  the  possibility  of  increasing  happi- 
ness by  supplying  individuals  with  consump- 
tional guidance  is  unlimited,  and  even  among 
the  wealthy  classes  the  need  of  improving 
standards  of  living  and  improving  taste  is  far 
from  negligible. 

The  efficient  consumer  has  taste  and  knows 
43 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

values.  He  goes  without  some  things  and  buys 
only  what  satisfies  and  enriches  life.  Intoxi- 
cants and  ear-rings,  inartistic  furniture  and 
bad  music  are  pitfalls  of  those  who  have  suf- 
fered under-development  in  appreciations. 
How  grievous  may  be  ignorance  of  the  good 
choice  and  use  of  things  is  well  illustrated  in 
the  case  of  the  reservation  Indian,  whose  pur- 
chasing is  ruinous  and  whose  scale  of  values  is 
inconsistent  with  his  welfare.  So  meagre  has 
been  the  maintenance  of  large  numbers  in  so- 
ciety that  exemplary  consumption,  neither 
weazened  by  poverty  nor  by  omissions  of  cul- 
ture, finds  too  little  realisation. 

In  seeking  out  those  bodies  of  knowledge 
which  have  historically  underlain  consumption 
one  naturally  looks  to  the  information  as- 
sociated with  eminent  consumers,  the  rich. 
And  we  here  find  emphasis  placed  on  good 
manners,  polite  learning,  miscellaneous  infor- 
mation, knowledge  of  leading  families,  kings, 
military  leaders,  and  history  with  a  genea- 
logical bias.  Certain  languages,  as  French,  as- 
sociated with  the  fine  arts  and  romantic 
themes,  and  implying  travel  in  foreign  lands, 
rank  high.  Acquaintance  with  sports  and 
games  and  recreational  records  and  anecdotes 
figures   in   leisure   class   knowledge.     How   to 

44 


Knowing  How  to  Consume 

wear  clothes  of  quality,  dress  punctiliously  and 
gradedly  for  occasions,  as  appear  at  courts, 
manage  subordinates,  converse  wittily  and 
avoid  irregularities  of  behaviour  known  as  bad 
form  are  items  in  the  trained  consumer's  code. 
The  training  given  not  long  since  in  a  girls' 
school  in  the  South  consisting  of  learning  in- 
numerable quotations  from  authors  for  use  in 
conversation  was  decidedly  consumptional. 

Much  of  the  experience  developed  historic- 
ally among  the  upper  classes  commends  itself 
to  good  sense  and  its  possession  may  be  counted 
a  consumptional  ideal  for  all.  Because  of 
the  inherent  worth  of  upper  class  consump- 
tional knowledge  or  because  of  its  critical  im- 
portance for  gaining  admission  to  aristocratic 
circles,  education  has  made  much  use  of  this 
type  of  knowledge,  especially  in  the  higher 
schools.  Quite  apart  from  the  uses  of  con- 
sumptional knowledge  for  social  preferment, 
the  advantages  of  knowing  the  rational  and 
satisfying  use  of  wealth,  in  large  or  small 
quantities,  are  transcendent. 

It  may  appear  to  do  violence  to  facts  to  refer 
moral  truths  to  economics  for  reclassification. 
Moral  experience  or  knowledge  arises  from  the 
individual's  contact  with  environment  along 
the    line    of    the    great    economic    relations. 

45 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

There  is  an  ethics  of  production,  an  ethics  of 
distribution,  and  no  less  an  ethics  of  consump- 
tion. Thou  shalt  labour,  is  productional 
morals ;  thou  shalt  not  steal,  is  a  distributional 
precept;  thou  shalt  not  kill,  or  interfere  with 
another's  enjoyment  of  wealth,  is  part  of  a 
moral  code  based  upon  consumption.  What- 
ever interferes  by  intent  with  another's  fitness 
for  the  enjoyment  of  wealth  and  welfare,  what- 
ever produces  maladjustment  in  the  consump- 
tional  relation  to  material  commodities  or  the 
higher  values  of  beauty  and  contemplation, 
violates  a  code  of  ethics  referable  in  the  last 
analysis  to  an  economic  basis.  Moral  instruc- 
tion is  demanded  lest  perverse  happenings  oc- 
cur to  disturb  the  individual  in  his  primary 
economic  relations.  The  perfection  of  the  in- 
dividual's adjustment  in  these  relations  to  en- 
vironment gives  the  cue  to  evolutionary 
morals. 

Indeed  a  higher  than  the  current  moral  code 
may  emerge  when  not  only  is  the  individual's 
right  to  the  cruder  features  of  consumption 
recognised,  but  his  right  is  honoured  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  charms  of  landscapes,  now  only 
to  be  reached  by  expensive  travel,  of  music  con- 
fined to  loci  of  culture,  and  art  stationary  in 
far  cities.    The  ethics  of  maximum  consump- 

46 


Knowing  How  to  Consume 

tion  would  supply  deficiencies  in  the  present 
code. 

While  certain  kinds  of  knowledge  function  in 
more  than  one  economic  relation,  in  consump- 
tional  science  may  be  included  poetry,  music, 
hygiene,  fiction,  foreign  languages,  dietetics, 
house  planning,  geography,  astronomy,  and  in 
general  those  classes  of  facts  that  enable  one 
to  use  things  well,  maintain  proper  standards 
of  dress  and  deportment,  satisfy  curiosity,  and 
enter  into  the  higher  values  in  which  an  in- 
creasingly complex  civilisation  abounds. 

The  peculiar  relation  of  consumptional  prac- 
tices to  public  welfare  lays  emphasis  upon 
knowing  how  to  use  things  without  harming 
others.  The  criminal  and  the  drunkard  would 
be  harmless  if  they  lived  on  Crusoe's  Island. 
Vice,  crime,  intolerance,  inebriety,  and  gam- 
bling imply  low  ideals  of  consumption.  The 
social  etfects  of  what  one  does  by  way  of  en- 
joyment are  not  to  be  lost  sight  of,  indeed  they 
are  exactly  what  one  should  keep  in  mind. 

And  not  only  in  negative  ways  may  consump- 
tional science  be  of  public  benefit,  but  also  in 
the  joint  undertakings  of  public  libraries, 
parks,  playgrounds  and  the  common  utlisa- 
tion  of  facilities  which  public  ownership  af- 
fords and  promises.    One  does  not  need  to  own 

47 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

a  thing  to  enjoy  it.  Nothing  is  detracted  from 
a  beautiful  landscape  that  thousands  besides 
oneself  have  access  to  it.  The  desire  for  ex- 
clusiveness  of  enjoyment  or  possession  is 
doomed  to  give  way  to  the  rising  ideal  of  the 
widest  possible  use  of  wealth  and  to  the  new 
psychology  of  service. 


48 


PAET  TWO 
THE  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE 


49 


The  curriculum  is  but  one  of  several  agencies 
for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  and  it  is 
therefore  well  to  note  the  characteristics  and 
efficiency  of  various  other  instrumentalities  be- 
fore dealing  more  particularly  with  the  cur- 
riculum itself,  to  the  end  that  the  province  of 
the  curriculum  may  be  defined  more  exactly 
and  ways  noted  in  which  the  curriculum  may 
supplement  other  agencies  or  correct  their  de- 
fects. 


50 


V 

They  Say 

Bearing  in  mind  that  knowledge  is  simply  ex- 
perience, functioning  mainly  if  not  wholly  for 
the  adjustment  of  the  individual  to  the  social 
processes  of  production,  distribution  and  con- 
sumption, the  need  of  a  ready  command  of 
knowledge  effecting  suitable  relations  to  en- 
vironment at  once  suggests  itself.  Knowledge 
to  be  valuable  must  apply  at  points  of  need  and 
continue  a  favourable  adjustment  or  cure 
maladjustment  to  environment.  As  soon  as  ex- 
perience functioning  for  adjustment  becomes 
predetermined  it  sinks  into  relatively  uncon- 
scious habits,  and  finally  into  instinctive  reac- 
tions and  automatisms.  The  type  of  experi- 
ence with  which  we  are  now  concerned  is  that 
which  exists  as  consciously  retained  and  con- 
sciously employed  impressions  and  inferences. 

The  utilisation  of  such  knowledge  presup- 
poses a  system  of  retention,  both  social  and  in- 
dividual, and  a  system  of  convection  or  diffu- 
sion of  knowledge  to  points  of  need. 

Social  retention  comprises  those  means  by 
51 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

which  knowledge  is  handed  down  from  genera- 
tion to  generation.  In  this  process  oral  tra- 
dition and  written  records  have  been  effective. 
Likewise  monuments,  public  works,  ancient 
roads,  edifices,  statuary  and  implements,  fos- 
sils and  relics  of  all  sorts  serve  to  convey  in- 
formation of  earlier  times.  One  of  the  prob- 
lems of  civilisation  is  to  perfect  the  means  of 
social  retention.  Books  hold  first  place  as  in- 
strumentalities of  social  retention.  By  the  re- 
publication of  knowledge  as  paper  and  bindings 
decay,  and  especially  by  republication  ac- 
companied by  critical  winnowings  of  materials 
most  valuable  to  posterity,  and  the  making  of 
compendiums  and  digests,  the  essentials  of 
knowledge  gleaned  in  the  past  may  be  kept 
flowing  indefinitely. 

Eetention  with  the  individual  rests  upon  the 
power  of  memory,  whose  laws  and  limitations 
are  fairly  well  understood.  Memory  is  the  cen- 
tral feature  in  the  individual's  mental  equip- 
ment, not  only  in  that  it  supplies  in  numberless 
cases  the  former  experience  serving  at  once  to 
put  the  individual  in  correct  adjustment,  but 
also  in  that  the  reasonings  necessary  for  ad- 
justment to  novel  situations  employ  materials 
supplied  by  memory  from  former  experiences. 

But  no  matter  how  broad  one 's  direct  experi- 
52 


They  Say 

ence  with  tlie  physical  and  social  world  may 
have  been,  the  requirements  of  modern  life  de- 
mand a  knowledge  far  in  excess.  Possibly  in 
the  most  primitive  state  man  needed  to  know 
little  not  accumulated  through  his  own  direct 
experience,  but  in  a  complex  society  the  knowl- 
edge that  may  be  gained  by  experience  in  the 
narrow  sense  of  the  term  is  hopelessly  inade- 
quate. To  one's  direct  experience  must  be 
added  essential  experiences  from  millions  of 
alien  situations.  ^Yhat  others  have  learned  by 
direct  experience  furnishes  the  bulk,  it  may  be, 
of  what  any  one  should  know. 

This  need  of  sharing  in  the  experience  of 
others  gives  rise  in  turn  to  the  necessity  of 
effective  methods  of  diffusing  knowledge.  A 
new  situation  presents  itself.  The  individual 
may  proceed  in  this  order.  He  first  asks,  what 
experience  have  I  had  which  will  show  me  how 
to  act?  Failing  of  a  specific  experience  wliich 
will  guide  by  duplication,  he  then  inquires, 
what  experiences  have  I  had  containing  ele- 
ments or  principles  applicable  to  this  new  sit- 
uation? At  this  point  he  leaves  the  realm  of 
his  former  direct  experience,  passes  over  to 
the  experiences  of  others,  and  seeks  for  a  case 
or  rule  of  which  he  has  heard  or  read  which 
will  solve  the  difficulty. 

53 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

The  diffusion  of  knowledge  either  by  educa- 
tional institutions  or  by  other  agencies  would 
be  beside  the  mark  were  it  not  for  the  inade- 
quacy of  individual  experience  or  the  infirmities 
of  individual  memory.  Individual  limitations, 
however,  coupled  with  more  exacting  re- 
quirements upon  one  than  the  world  has  ever 
before  known,  compel  increasing  attention  to 
the  agencies  for  the  convection  of  knowledge  to 
points  of  need. 

Of  the  agencies  for  the  diffusion  of  knowl- 
edge common  report  or  informal  communica- 
tion between  man  and  man  is  ancient  and  fairly 
effective.  The  parent  shows  the  child  how  to 
carry  on  the  arts  of  life  and  transmits  much  of 
his  stock  of  information  in  the  form  of  advice, 
tales,  admonitions,  anecdote  and  narration. 
Social  intercourse  sets  free  a  considerable  vol- 
ume of  essential  knowledge  along  with  much 
that  is  purely  repetitious  or  revived  for  the 
exigencies  of  conversation.  The  meeting  of 
strangers  results  in  additions  to  one's  stock  of 
ideas  and  prepares  one  for  adjustments  repre- 
sented by  the  stranger's  travels  and  exploits. 
Whenever  two  or  three  are  gathered  together, 
there  may  be  observed  the  process  of  simple 
communication,  which,  while  abounding  in  un- 
important detail  and  faulty  induction,  serves 

54 


They  Say 

to  flush  the  nooks  and  crannies  of  society  with 
ideas  and  useful  precepts. 

Limitations  to  the  efficacy  of  simple  com- 
munication are  set  by  one's  social  opportu- 
nities and  by  class  lines.  Class  knowledge  per- 
colates slowly  from  group  to  group,  and  a  great 
amoimt  of  knowledge  common  to  occupations 
and  social  sets  never  finds  its  way  freely 
throughout  the  masses,  due  to  lack  of  social 
contact  of  the  representatives  of  the  various 
groups. 

Within  one's  own  group,  touching  points  of 
competition,  dissembling  and  secretiveness  pre- 
vail to  a  degree.  Competitors  converse  pro- 
fusely with  one  another,  and  by  preference  with 
one  another,  but  the  knowledge  which  one  holds 
essential  to  his  advantage  in  competition  for 
trade,  votes,  reputation  or  income,  rarely  plays 
a  part  in  the  information  rehearsed.  Altruism, 
it  is  true,  dictates  that  helpful  information 
be  generously  published,  but  there  is  a  con- 
cealed residuum.  The  broad  view  that  what- 
ever helps  another  helps  oneself  rarely  pre- 
vails fully  over  the  desire  to  monopolise  kinds 
of  information  identified  with  one's  survival  in 
competition.  Sometimes  there  is  revealed  dis- 
like lest  occupational  knowledge  become  a  com- 
mon possession.    It  comes  about  that  strategic 

55 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

knowledge  is  kept  in  the  background  while  ap- 
parently unreserved  utterance  occupies  the 
stage. 

The  informality  of  simple  communication 
lends  itself  to  jumbled  impressions  and  the  ac- 
cumulation of  inferior  knowledge.  By  a  singu- 
lar agglutinative  process  fama  distorts  and 
amplifies  until  the  truth  is  lost  or  hidden  under 
mounds  of  rubbish.  It  is  against  all  the  in- 
stincts of  dramatisation  and  excitement  that 
one  should  not  make  a  good  story  out  of  any 
material  at  hand.  The  fiction-weaving  im- 
pulse vitiates  many  reports  that  if  true  would 
be  less  interesting.  Learning  to  brace  oneself 
against  first  reports  and  general  rumors  be- 
comes accordingly  one  of  the  first  lessons  of  a 
useful  life. 

But  whatever  other  agencies  for  the  diffu- 
sion of  knowledge  may  be  set  up,  the  service  of 
simple  communication  remains  fundamental  in 
promoting  adjustments.  The  word  dropped  at 
the  right  moment,  the  mother's  warning  to  the 
child,  the  friendly  suggestion,  the  brief  direc- 
tion to  workers,  the  cry  for  help,  as  particulars 
in  the  mighty  stream  of  the  social  interchange 
of  ideas,  illustrate  how  large  a  part  in  the 
learning  process  is  played  by  simple  communi- 
cation. 

56 


VI 

Printers'  Ink 

Any  not  convinced  of  the  omnipresence  of  the 
newspaper  by  the  printed  page  which  appears 
on  every  living-room  table,  in  barber  shops,  on 
store  counters,  and  is  thrust  under  one's  eyes 
on  train  and  street,  or  wrapped  around  one's 
legs  by  swirling  winds,  need  only  consult 
the  thick  volume  comprising  the  American 
Newspaper  Annual  to  be  impressed  with  per- 
haps the  most  pregnant  fact  of  modern  life,  the 
ubiquity  of  print.  Tens  of  thousands  of  daily 
and  weekly  newspapers  with  a  combined  issu- 
ance of  many  billion  copies  a  year  bombard  the 
public  with  such  a  mass  of  printed  matter  as 
the  world  never  before  knew.  When  one  con- 
siders that  a  small  daily  with  a  circulation  of 
20,000  prints  and  distributes  in  the  course  of 
a  year  over  7,000,000  papers  and  that  the  mod- 
erate sized  metropolitan  daily  sends  out  from 
75,000,000  to  100,000,000  newspapers  a  year, 
the  total  newspaper  output  assumes  pro- 
portions   unwieldy    if    expressed    in    figures 

57 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

and  hopelessly  beyond  vivid  comprehension. 
Morning  and  evening,  day  in  and  day  out,  the 
newspaper  makes  its  way  to  the  understanding. 
A  considerable  number,  especially  in  cities,  see 
more  than  one  newspaper  a  day  while  there  are 
few  even  on  the  remotest  farm  or  ranch  who 
do  not  read  a  weekly  paper.  Many  read  little 
else  than  newspapers. 

In  view  of  the  vast  office  of  the  newspaper 
as  an  intellectual  medium,  it  is  well  to  note  its 
merits  and  defects  as  a  Imowledge-diffusing 
agency.  The  newspaper  is  a  teacher,  a 
preacher,  a  school.  It  instructs  and  informs. 
The  public  is  its  pupils  and  parishioners.  It 
even  supersedes  conversation  and  simple  com- 
munication, as  witness  the  irritation  of  a  news- 
paper reader  disturbed  by  a  question,  or  the 
absorption  in  the  morning  paper  of  the  man  of 
ambiguous  manners  who  reads  on  indifferent 
to  his  wife's  attempts  to  engage  him  in  dis- 
cussion. So  forcefully  has  the  newspaper  ap- 
pealed to  the  public  that  an  observer^  be- 
lieves the  newspaper  to  have  imposed  upon  the 
American  people  distinct  mental  traits,  which 
he  characterises  as  a  "newspaper  intelli- 
gence." 

The  newspaper  has  unparalleled  efficiency  so 

1  President  Schurman  of  Cornell  University. 

58 


Printers'  Ink 

far  as  securing  the  unremitting  attention  of 
a  very  large  number  of  pupils,  the  public. 
Neither  the  church  nor  the  school  equals  it  in 
either  particular.  It  takes  no  vacations  and 
its  classes  are  never  dismissed.  The  news- 
paper pursues  even  when  one  would  flee.  It 
exerts  constant  pressure,  and  by  cheapness,  ap- 
peal to  human  interests,  and  commercial  tactics 
leaves  no  stone  unturned  to  make  and  hold 
readers. 

In  manner  of  presenting  information  the 
newspaper  has  even  set  standards  of  efficiency. 
The  cumbrous  style  of  writing  is  discarded  for 
terse  language  and  graphic  description.  The 
general  change  to  direct  style  in  literature  is 
no  doubt  largely  traceable  to  newspaper  meth- 
ods of  expression.  Composition  that  cannot  be 
understood  at  a  glance  and  by  readers  un- 
trained in  mental  grasp  gives  way  to  a  style  of 
open  writing,  especially  illustrated  in  head  lines 
and  advertisements,  which  has  conferred  some 
benefits  upon  expression  in  general,  rendering 
Milton's  ^'Areopagitica"  unacceptable  as  a 
model  of  English.  Regardless  of  the  kind  of 
knowledge  dispensed  by  the  newspaper,  it  has 
contributed  vastly  to  ideals  of  universality  of 
diffusion. 

Many  causes  no  doubt  conspire  to  determine 
59 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

what  the  newspaper  diffuses.  No  one  talking 
to  a  child  would  deal  in  knowledge  for  the  un- 
derstanding of  which  there  had  been  no  pre- 
vious preparation  or  was  of  a  nature  not  readily 
understood.  Whether  there  is  not  much  know- 
ledge which  might  be  imparted,  but  which  is 
commonly  thought  to  be  too  difficult  to  be  con- 
veyed, is  a  question  that  need  merely  be  re- 
ferred to  here;  the  fact  remains  that  if  one  is 
to  engage  the  immediate  attention  of  child  or 
reader,  he  must  offer  materials  of  superior  at- 
tractiveness. This  the  newspaper  does,  and 
accordingly  the  nature  of  the  material  printed 
is  largely  governed  by  the  real  or  supposed 
capacity  and  interests  of  the  particular  news- 
paper's constituency.  The  newspaper  reader 
is  less  amenable  to  solid  instruction  than  the 
pupil  in  a  classroom,  for  upon  slight  umbrage 
the  former  cancels  his  subscription  or  buys  a 
different  paper,  whereas  the  latter  is  held  to 
instruction,  in  the  lower  schools  by  the  attend- 
ance officer,  and  in  the  higher  institutions  of 
learning  by  compulsions  that  may  not  be  disre- 
garded. The  newspaper  reader  is  held  to  his 
lesson  by  the  application  of  the  doctrine  of  in- 
terest elaborated  into  a  demoralising  coddling, 
a  fact  that  greatly  limits  the  teaching  value  of 
the  press.    Whether  the  editor  believes  in  the 

60 


Printers'  Ink 

worth  of  the  matter  printed  or  not,  if  the  read- 
ers of  the  paper  are  believed  to  fancy  reports 
of  distant  scandal,  the  personal  habits  of  dis- 
tinguished people,  the  engagements  of  yoimg 
women  one  has  never  known,  or  the  bearing  of 
a  murderer  on  his  way  to  execution,  accounts 
are  provided.  In  short  the  newspaper  con- 
cedes to  the  prejudices  and  ignorance  of  the 
reader  with  a  subservience  demoralising  to  its 
value  as  a  mentor,  provided  its  publication  is 
not  dictated  by  other  than  purely  commercial 
motives.  To  the  extent  to  which  readers  want 
what  is  good  for  them  all  newspapers  diffuse 
knowledge  of  unquestioned  quality. 

The  attempt  to  please  as  wide  a  circle  of 
readers  as  possible  leads  to  the  inclusion  in 
newspapers  of  materials  miscellaneous  and  of 
all  degrees  of  importance.  The  news  is  as 
broad  as  readers'  interests  in  what  is  going  on 
in  the  world.  Naturally  in  the  publication  of 
an  enormous  volume  of  information  there  must 
be  much  which  has  but  the  slightest  value,  rank- 
ing with  mere  perceptional  knowledge  of  a 
repetitious  kind.  The  swollen  volume  of  the 
news  is  largely  due  to  the  repetition  of  typical 
cases.  The  newspaper  item  relative  to  the 
prominent  citizen  reappears  in  slightly  vary- 
ing form  year  after  year — never  too  often  in 

61 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

the  eyes  of  tliis  influential  subscriber  and  pa- 
tron. The  accident  or  loss  by  fire  is  dis- 
cursively treated  and  a  bulk  of  news  is  attained 
which  in  part  balances  the  advertising  sections. 
The  sense  of  climax  is  fed  by  special  articles 
forecasting  with  circumlocution  or  dramatis- 
ing casualties  and  criminal  trials. 

From  the  standpoint  of  evaluated  knowledge, 
when  one  boiler  explosion  or  murder  enters 
one's  stock  of  knowledge,  other  cases,  unless 
embodying  new  principles,  are  mere  junk  ex- 
cept to  persons  specially  affected.  In  the 
knowledge  diffused  by  the  current  press  repeti- 
tion of  types  occurs  interminably.  For  tliis 
reason  a  besotted  reader  may  remain  substan- 
tially ignorant  though  full  of  information,  and 
per  contra  one  may  get  along  very  well,  once 
grounded  in  knowledge,  if  he  rarely  reads  a 
newspaper  closely.  The  value  of  newspapers 
aside  from  the  knowledge-diffusing  function  is 
not  under  discussion.  As  sources  of  entertain- 
ment and  business  mediums  newspapers  repre- 
sent services  not  involved  in  a  comparison  of 
the  newspaper  with  other  agencies  for  the  dif- 
fusion of  knowledge.  The  timeliness  of  the  in- 
formation afforded  is  an  important  part  of  the 
service  rendered. 

The  idea  of  news  is  that  of  the  report  of 
62 


Printers'  Ink 

happenings  rather  than  the  exhaustive  treat- 
ment of  causes  or  the  search  for  principles. 
One  will  meet  thousands  of  references  to  auto- 
mobiles, but  look  in  vain  for  a  scientific  de- 
scription of  the  gasoline  motor.  Innumerable 
allusions  are  made  to  crime,  but  for  studies  of 
the  causes  of  crime  we  must  look  to  the  crimi- 
nologist, who  deals  with  crime  with  a  delibera- 
tion impossible  to  the  reporter  intent  on  copy. 
The  obvious  aspects  of  multitudes  of  situations 
are  immediately  reflected  in  the  newspaper,  but 
for  inductions  from  data  one  must  seek  else- 
where. Usually  the  startling  and  more  objec- 
tive features  of  happenings  are  taken  up  in  the 
newspaper.  The  failure  of  a  bank  is  an- 
nounced in  bold  type,  but  the  history  which  lies 
back  of  this  event,  with  its  fulness  of  economic, 
personal,  institutional  and  occupational  data 
and  inference,  can  find  little  place  in  the  hasty 
recital  of  bankruptcy  jostled  by  items  thrust 
upon  the  editor's  desk  from  all  parts  of  the 
world.  To  the  student  and  specialist  must  be 
referred  the  fuller  analysis  of  events  which  in 
their  surface  manifestations  are  news  and  in 
their  deeper  meaning  science. 

The  lack  of  system  characterising  news  makes 
the  newspaper  a  faulty  teacher.  The  mind  of 
the   scientist  represents   an   orderly  arrange- 

63 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

ment  and  structure  of  knowledge.  To  perfect 
this  arrangement  in  the  learner's  mind  re- 
quires reasonable  attention  to  the  way  in  which 
ideas  are  assembled  and  presented.  The 
proper  association  of  ideas  is  of  extreme  im- 
portance. Mere  masses  of  facts  precipitated 
upon  one's  mind,  no  matter  how  interesting 
separately,  have  less  instructional  value,  being 
less  perfectly  retained  and  assimilated,  than 
when  presented  in  orderly  sequence.  And  in- 
deed the  habit  of  seeing  particulars  as  a  sys- 
tem, developed  by  receiving  knowledge  in  that 
form,  distinguishes  the  trained  mind  from  the 
type  of  scatterbrain  suggested  by  the  term 
''newspaper  intelligence."  The  unwisdom  of 
employing  the  newspaper  as  the  main  source  of 
one's  mental  materials  is  evident.  The  effects 
of  showering  quantities  of  miscellaneous  and 
unorganised  ideas  upon  immature  minds, 
whether  young  or  old,  are  from  this  standpoint 
not  desirable. 

In  the  generosity  of  news  offered  there  is  to 
be  found  much  that  makes  for  increased  pro- 
duction of  wealth.  Market  reports,  weather 
prognostications,  allusions  to  improved  meth- 
ods of  production,  descriptions  of  new  inven- 
tions of  use  on  the  farm  or  in  factories,  items 
facilitating   business    or   urging   co-operation, 

64 


Printers'  Ink 

and  the  warnings  implied  in  accounts  of  acci- 
dents, faulty  constructions,  disease,  and  idle- 
ness unite  to  make  the  newspaper  in  a  sense  a 
useful  manual  of  knowledge  bearing  upon  pro- 
duction. Of  course  the  connected  information 
underlying  a  complete  trade  or  profession  is 
never  more  than  merely  suggested. 

The  culture  popularised  by  the  newspaper 
varies  with  particular  publications  and  shows 
a  wide  range  of  standards.  Both  intelligent 
and  unintelligent  consumption  are  promoted. 
Accounts  of  the  diversions  of  people  who  are 
noted  rather  for  conspicuous  than  rational  con- 
sumption tend  to  set  up  practices  inconsistent 
with  the  best  use  of  wealth.  False  ideals  of 
enjoyment  are  thus  encouraged  and  simpler, 
saner  pleasures  in  a  sense  sti.gmatised.  The 
lack  of  individuality  shown  in  servility  to 
kaleidoscopic  fasliions  and  the  awed  submis- 
sion to  the  reports  of  what  "they"  are  doing 
or  thinking  are  unchecked  by  the  newspaper's 
influence.  In  the  field  of  standards  of  living 
the  press  supplies  a  heterogeneity  of  example 
without  real  guidance.  Plowever,  newspaper 
reading  tends  beyond  question  to  raise  con- 
sumptional  ideals.  The  knowledge  that  some 
one  else  is  enjoying  a  vacation,  going  abroad, 
visiting  in  the  country,  sending  his  boy  to  col- 

65 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

lege,  purchasing  a  piano,  riding  in  an  automo- 
bile, and  installing  a  hot  water  heating  system 
spurs  to  a  higher  standard  of  living.  The  most 
backward  individuals  and  communities  are 
those  by  whom  newspapers  are  little  read. 
Even  where  wealth  is  not  possessed  to  put  into 
effect  the  higher  consumptional  ideal,  the 
newspaper  reader  in  downright  poverty  has  a 
surface  acquaintance  with  practically  all  the 
means  of  spending  money  and  is  no  mean  critic 
of  the  manner  in  which  large  consumers  dress, 
travel  and  eat. 

Again,  in  the  field  of  distribution,  the  news- 
paper exhibits  great  catholicity  in  its  columns. 
Here  the  newspaper  in  fact  performs  a  func- 
tion not  performed  by  the  church  and  very 
slightly  attempted  by  the  schools,  that  of  in- 
forming the  public  on  political  questions. 
Subordination  to  the  interests  of  office  seekers 
and  private  individuals  limits  the  service  of 
the  press  in  this  particular,  but  what  one  paper 
suppresses  another  may  publish,  and  the  civic 
instruction  of  the  public  comes  more  largely 
from  the  press  than  from  any  other  source. 
The  newspaper  tells  who  is  elected  to  office,  re- 
views legislation,  comments  on  political  situa- 
tions, excoriates  policies  and  illuminates  the 
workings  of  government.     Current  progress  in 

66 


Printers*  Ink 

understanding  political  conditions  and  lines  of 
reform  rests  quite  fully  upon  the  notable  ef- 
forts of  the  press  to  diffuse  civic  knowledge. 
The  newspaper  is  the  citizen's  library  for  the 
understanding  of  government. 

An  increasing  amount  of  the  esoteric  knowl- 
edge of  which  the  extremely  wealthy  have  been 
the  beneficiaries  has  been  made  known,  with 
the  result  that  society  hangs  on  the  verge  of 
reorganisation  with  reference  to  the  control 
of  corporations  and  the  amelioration  of  slum 
and  pauper  conditions.  The  effect  of  knowl- 
edge is  conduct.  The  mere  publication  of  a 
fact  leads  to  so  many  results  that  to  the  agency 
making  the  facts  known  must  be  credited  a 
primary  service  in  improving  the  conditions 
under  which  distribution  takes  place. 

The  frequency  of  issue  of  newspapers  and 
magazines  leads  the  public  to  look  chiefly  to 
them  for  reports  of  current  political  develop- 
ments. These  publications  naturally  become 
the  principal  means  of  distributing  political  in- 
formation and  their  influence  is  correspond- 
ingly great. 

The  knowledge  imparted  by  the  school  be- 
comes effective  when  the  student  arrives  at 
the  age  of  active  participation  in  the  life  of  the 
citizen,  but  that  dispensed  by  the  press  in  the 

67 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

morning  may  become  a  rule  of  action  in  council 
or  congress,  at  the  polls  or  on  the  street  before 
nightfall.  With  the  fuller  and  more  impartial 
treatment  of  political  themes  the  press  could 
hardly  have  a  rival  as  a  distributer  of  civic 
information. 


^ 


VII 

The  Specialist 

Much  of  the  most  important  knowledge  is  con- 
fined to  the  mind  of  the  specialist.  AYliether 
this  is  due  to  the  inadequacy  and  inefficiency 
of  other  agencies  of  diffusion  or  the  excess  of 
vital  knowledge  over  the  capacity  of  the  single 
brain  may  be  a  question.  In  view  of  the  fact 
that  the  world's  supply  of  important  principles 
is  really  small,  it  might  seem  that  the  specialist 
exists  to  afford  personal  services  rather  than 
as  an  indispensable  rej)ository  of  learning. 

One  may  specialise  in  either  useless  or  use- 
ful information.  Prodigies  of  curious  learn- 
ing who  flounder  in  the  important  adjustments 
of  life  are  an  example  of  the  former,  and  the 
physician,  lawj^er,  architect,  and  pharmacist 
are  examples  of  the  latter  class.  The  special- 
ist usually  does  things  for  pay,  applying  in  the 
operation  knowledge  of  at  least  partially  eso- 
teric character.  In  so  far  as  his  services  in- 
volve skill  due  to  special  training  resulting  in 
habits,  the  specialist  represents  proficiency  as 

69 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

distinguished  from  information.  One  attorney 
might,  for  example,  employ  another  to  do  what 
he  himself  might  do  if  he  had  the  time,  or  a 
person  well  informed  as  to  pulling  teeth  might 
not  urge  his  services  in  this  occupation  from 
lack  of  practical  experience  which  the  dentist 
possesses.  However,  the  specialist  fairly  rep- 
resents assortments  of  knowledge  with  which 
the  layman  is  rarely  acquainted  under  present 
conditions. 

A  double  tendency  appears  with  regard  to 
the  knowledge  identified  with  the  specialist. 
Knowledge  subject  to  specialisation  seems,  on 
the  one  hand,  to  flow  increasingly  out  into  the 
stream  of  common  information,  but  on  the  other 
the  increase  of  information  along  certain  lines 
seems  to  maintain  the  specialist's  reservoir  of 
knowledge  at  a  rather  high  level.  The  appear- 
ance of  preventive  medicine  and  public  health 
officers  tends  to  popular  diffusion  of  medical 
knowledge,  but  possibly  the  advances  in  medical 
information  will  result  in  accumulations  which 
by  no  ordinary  means  may  be  made  a  public 
possession.  Certainly  the  specialist  commands 
knowledge  in  detail  as  the  layman,  however  well 
versed  in  principles,  cannot  rival. 

The  tendency  of  special  knowledge  to  mingle 
with  the   current   of   general   information   is 

70 


The  Specialist 

abundantly  illustrated.  Knowledge  of  arithme- 
tic was  at  one  time  esoteric,  and  the  arithmetical 
specialist  solved  simple  arithmetical  problems 
for  pay,  presumably  with  an  air  of  mystery. 
As  arithmetic  has  become  a  commonplace  of 
learning,  not  implying  that  the  possessor  of 
such  learning  is  well  informed,  so  other  classes 
of  information  have  quite  lost  any  character  of 
mystery,  and  the  specialist  is  saved  by  bulk  of 
information  rather  than  by  its  essential  myste- 
riousness  and  distance  from  common  under- 
standing. 

Public  welfare  would  seem  to  demand  that 
any  information  of  vital  significance  should  be 
made  as  available  as  possible  to  the  ordinary 
citizen.  Accordingly  the  specialist  to  be  of 
greatest  social  usefulness  should  become  a  free 
dispenser  of  knowledge,  as  can  hardly  be  the 
case  when  his  income  depends  in  part  upon 
maintaining  a  degree  of  secrecy.  "Were  the  suc- 
cess of  the  physician  measured  by  the  extent  to 
which  his  fund  of  information  became  a  common 
possession  and  were  physicians  free  to  promote 
public  health  without  thought  of  commercialis- 
ing their  information,  the  good  effects  would 
be  obvious.  It  is  a  misfortune  that  in  many 
occupations  or  professions  the  specialist  has 
little   or  no   incentive,   or   indeed   has   incen- 

71 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

tives  to  the  contrary,  to  make  his  knowledge 
public. 

The  sick  frequently  need  advice  in  the  early 
stages  of  disease  which  they  do  not  receive. 
The  physician  has  the  information  which  they 
need.  Fearing  expense  they  keep  away  from 
the  physician's  office,  and  the  physician  with- 
holds counsel.  A  vast  amount  of  sickness  and 
numberless  deaths  would  be  prevented  if  the 
phj^'sician's  stock  of  knowledge  were  put  more 
at  the  service  of  those  in  need  of  medical  advice. 
The  modern  physician  is  in  the  position  of  the 
mathematician  of  the  middle  ages  who  solved 
problems  for  pay. 

The  dependence  of  the  physician  upon  com- 
pensation from  the  patient  militates  against 
any  but  the  more  superficial  instruction  of  the 
latter.  Few  explanations  are  forthcoming,  and 
the  seeker  after  medical  knowledge  carries  an 
unintelligible  prescription  to  the  pharmacist  for 
remedies  for  a  complaint  about  whose  cause  and 
nature  he  is  but  dimly  informed.  The  physi- 
cian's waiting  room  is  filled  with  people  who 
are  too  old  to  go  to  school  and  whose  chief  ail- 
ment is  ignorance.  Altruism  will  not,  however, 
support  the  physician's  family,  and  time  can- 
not be  taken  to  give  lectures  in  hygiene. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  the  objective  point  in 
72 


The  Specialist 

the  physician's  career  should  not  be  the  elimina- 
tion of  disease  and  decrease  in  the  number  of 
those  seeking  medical  attention.  A  case,  be- 
yond question  very  rare,  was  that  of  a  physician 
who  was  made  health  officer  in  a  small  city  in 
the  West.  Asked  why  he  did  so  little  to  im- 
prove health  conditions  in  the  city,  he  replied 
that  ''there  was  nothing  in  it."  He  owned  a 
hosijital,  it  may  be  added.  Despite  the  gener- 
osity which  characterises  physicians  as  a  class, 
a  trait  growing  out  of  acquaintance  with  pain 
and  destitution,  the  most  important  service  pos- 
sible, that  of  teaching  how  to  avoid  sickness,  is 
greatly  limited  by  the  fact  that  the  physician 
must  sell  his  knowledge  to  ignorance  without 
impairing  the  market.  One  step  further  in  so- 
cial evolution  and  the  physician  through  com- 
plete state  support  may  realise  an  ambition 
which  is  not  lacking  among  physicians,  that  of 
giving  their  knowledge  without  thought  of  pri- 
vate compensation. 

The  physician,  attorney,  dentist  and  engineer 
are  essentially  bureaus  of  information  requiring 
merely  subsidy  to  become  state  institutions. 
With  state  support  so  far  as  their  services  as 
diffusers  of  information  of  general  interest  are 
concerned,  the  banks  of  dammed-up  knowledge 
would  be  still  further  cut  and  a  larger  flow  of 

73 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

practical  wisdom  issue.  The  aim  of  popular 
enlightenment  implies  that  the  specialist's  serv- 
ices inure  to  the  general  welfare  as  not  possible 
under  a  system  of  the  commercial  retailing  of 
information.  The  state-supported  specialist, 
found  in  governmental  departments  and  insti- 
tutions of  learning,  is  an  instrumentality  for 
advancing  knowledge  beyond  present  limits  and 
increasing  the  volume  of  popular  information. 
The  pansophic  ideal  has  given  way  to  the 
ideal  of  specialisation  in  learning.  No  longer 
do  men  presume  to  be  equally  proficient  in  all 
fields  of  knowledge,  or  as  did  Bacon,  take  all 
knowledge  to  be  their  province.  Indeed  the 
ideal  of  specialisation  has  become  so  pro- 
nounced that  some  affect  a  simplicity  as  unbe- 
coming as  pretentious.  A  pansophic  ideal,  lim- 
ited to  the  more  salient  and  usable  items  of 
knowledge,  is  not  a  bad  ideal.  Divesting  sci- 
ences of  their  scaffolding  of  details  and  ignor- 
ing the  elements  of  scholasticism  which  adhere 
to  learning,  a  catholicity  of  information,  cover- 
ing the  main  fields  of  what  is  most  valuable,  is 
quite  possible,  as  illustrated  in  the  mental  out- 
fit of  university  presidents,  publicists,  and  men 
of  affairs.  And  plain  people  under  right  in- 
struction may  acquire  such  information  as  tends 
to    longevity,    self-support,    varied    interests, 

74 


The  Specialist 

happy  social  and  family  relations,  breadth  of 
outlook  and  the  touching  of  life  on  all  sides, — 
which  are  not  irrelevant  tests  of  a  practical 
pansophism.  If  one  distinguishes  between 
knowledge  which  actually  makes  for  adjustment 
and  knowledge  which  consists  of  what  some  one 
has  said  or  written,  whether  involved  in  prac- 
tical relations  or  not, — mere  mental  products, 
— the  aim  of  acquiring  what  one  needs  to  know 
becomes  a  modest  one. 

Lifelong  study  of  a  particular  field  does  not 
mean  that  there  is  so  much  valuable  information 
in  that  field  as  to  employ  one 's  efforts  for  many 
years.  The  specialist  may  spend  much  time  in 
winnowing  out  truths  that  when  made  available 
require  but  slight  time  for  the  learning.  The 
inventor  may  spend  a  lifetime  in  reducing  to 
tangible  truth  the  ideas  that  inspire  his  efforts, 
but  the  invention  once  completed,  a  knowledge 
of  its  uses  is  so  readily  gained  that  very  un- 
developed individuals  may  be  seen  running  ma- 
chinery which  only  genius  could  have  made 
possible.  The  practical  knowledge  of  the  auto- 
mobile is  acquired  in  a  moment  of  time  as  com- 
pared with  the  period  spent  in  its  invention. 
The  knowledge  of  the  use  of  a  thing  is  in- 
finitely less  laborious  than  that  of  its  creation. 
For  such  reasons  the  learning  rei^resented  by 

75 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

the  specialist  is  easily  exploited  by  the  layman 
and  the  specialist's  bulk  of  information  affords 
no  criterion  of  that  which  the  non-specialist 
should  aspire  to  make  his  own.  Years  are  spent 
in  securing  merely  negative  results  or  in  clear- 
ing the  way  to  tested  knowledge.  Such  labours 
in  no  sense  are  commensurate  with  mass  of  val- 
uable information.  It  would  be  unfortunate  if 
impressiveness  of  research  in  laboratories  or 
libraries  were  to  discourage  from  attempts  to 
learn  widely  and  to  deal  vigorously  with  such 
information  as  the  research  of  others  provides. 
The  audacity  which  characterised  the  earlier 
scientists  and  which  shows  in  the  undaunted 
spirit  of  the  unsophisticated  who  attack  the 
compilations  of  science  with  no  fear  of  defeat 
is  worthy  of  cultivation  in  an  age  of  massive 
specialisation. 

The  dejection  which  so  many  feel  when  in  a 
large  library  has  only  a  moderate  justification. 
The  adolescent  feels  that  unless  he  reads  all 
the  books  on  the  shelves  his  future  is  imperilled. 
Age  brings  a  clearer  view,  and  to  the  mature 
the  books  which  terrorise  the  novice  telescope 
together  through  the  elimination  of  repetitions, 
and  yield  but  a  nugget  where  seemed  a  moun- 
tain of  solid  ore.  A  better  appreciation  of  the 
situations  in  life  which  call  for  knowledge  re- 

76 


The  Specialist 

tires  a  multitude  of  books  from  consideration. 
Realisation  that  what  interested  this  author 
will  never  concern  you,  that  your  adjustments 
require  a  knowledge  different  or  already  at- 
tained, buttresses  self-respect.  Books  which 
in  earlier  years  seemed  to  be  to  live  by  become 
mere  dust-covered  incidents.  The  bookless,  in 
their  distrust  of  the  wisdom  of  such  as  put 
their  trust  in  books,  point  a  lesson  in  the  rela- 
tive values  of  knowledge  which  should  be  reas- 
suring in  a  period  when  the  specialist  and  his 
compilations  tend  to  make  the  unwary  apolo- 
getic for  having  been  born  without  even  the 
rudiments  of  an  education. 

The  specialist  is  no  doubt  to  play  a  larger  and 
still  larger  part  in  social  economy.  Merely  to 
live  under  complex  conditions  involves  knowl- 
edge greater  than  the  individual,  no  matter  how 
industrious,  can  secure  at  first  hand.  The  in- 
dividual's brain  becomes  organised  with  the 
larger  sensorium  of  an  increasing  number  of 
expert  truth  seekers.  To  make  the  results  of 
the  specialist's  investigations  more  accessible 
to  the  general  public  is  a  matter  of  the  greatest 
importance. 


77 


VIII 

The  First  Teacher 

At  an  early  date  the  priest  arose  as  a  con- 
servator and  dispenser  of  socially  retained 
knowledge.  The  art  of  writing  is  closely  identi- 
fied with  the  priest  class  in  primitive  societies. 
The  learned  class  originally  was  that  consisting 
of  those  who  knew  the  religious  traditions  of 
the  tribe,  its  crude  cosmogonies,  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  attendant  upon  the  control  of  the 
weather,  the  growth  of  crops,  the  embarrass- 
ment of  enemies,  and  the  exorcism  of  evil  influ- 
ences and  spirits.  The  body  of  information 
with  which  the  primitive  learned  class  dealt 
comprised  a  certain  amount  of  verifiable  knowl- 
edge and  large  masses  of  pseudo  science.  Elab- 
orate mythologies  were  developed  as  a  joyful 
exercise  of  imagination  and  the  dramatic  in- 
stinct and  a  rough  attempt  to  explain  the 
phenomena  of  the  world  by  anthropomorphism. 
The  priest  invented  characters  to  preserve 
knowledge,  essayed  to  organise  knowledge  and 
attempted  to  acquire  knowledge  beyond  the  pale 

78 


The  First  Teacher 

of  the  senses.  Imparting  socially  retained 
knowledge  and  nescience  to  apprentices  to  his 
caste,  the  priest  became  the  first  formal  teacher. 
The  history  of  education  is  a  record  of  the 
priest  as  teacher,  with  an  increasing  divergence 
appearing  between  secular  and  clerical  concep- 
tions and  the  emergence  of  the  theory  of  the 
complete  separation  of  church  and  state  in  edu- 
cational matters. 

The  cleavage  between  the  priest  and  secular 
teacher  intensified  with  the  growth  of  critical 
evaluation  of  knowledge.  It  was  inevitable 
that  much  of  the  primitive  accumulations  should 
be  found  unreliable.  With  the  invention  of  in- 
struments and  methods  for  discovering  truths, 
and  with  the  work  of  prior  experimenters  to 
build  on,  the  tentative  scientist  soon  came  into 
collision  with  the  class  who  laid  claim  to  all 
necessary  knowledge  and  were  not  solicitous  to 
apply  tests  of  value.  The  battle  between  sci- 
ence and  theology  was  waged  frightfully  during 
the  middle  ages,  was  continued  with  much  bit- 
terness in  the  controversies  that  centred  about 
Darwinism  in  the  nineteenth  centurj^  and  re- 
verberates even  in  the  twentieth  century'-. 

The  struggle  has  resulted  in  the  practical  re- 
tirement of  the  clergy  from  the  field  of  science. 
The  modern  clergjTnan,  instead  of  denouncing 

79 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

and  deprecating  the  teacher  of  science,  turns 
over  to  him  a  certain  domain  of  knowledge,  re- 
serving to  himself  a  province  characterised  by 
more  difficult  demonstration  and  broader  in- 
ductions. 

To  what  extent  the  warfare  of  theology 
against  science  in  past  centuries  arose  from 
occupational  motives  is  an  interesting  question, 
probably  deserving  more  attention  than  it  has 
received.  There  can  be  but  little  question  but 
that  a  desire  to  protect  the  prerogatives  of  a 
class  by  shielding  and  maintaining  an  occupa- 
tional type  of  knowledge  figured  largely  in  the 
persecution  of  the  non-conforming  scientist  and 
intellectual  insurgent,  represented  in  the  burn- 
ing of  Bruno,  the  imprisonment  of  Eoger  Ba- 
con, the  terrors  of  Andreas  Vesalius  and  the 
dead  of  the  Spanish  inquisition.  As  princes 
fought  for  lands  and  spilled  blood  for  aggran- 
disement, so  clerics  may  have  striven  to  protect 
a  strategic  position,  losing  sight  of  the  higher 
aim  of  truth  in  defending  a  privilege.  The 
startled  resentment  which  to-day  kindles  when 
divergent  medical  or  educational  practice  is  an- 
nounced or  theories  advanced  may  be  a  key  to 
a  better  appreciation  of  a  period  of  history 
known  unfavourably  for  the  bloodshed  of  schol- 
ars. 

80 


The  First  Teacher 

Self-imposed  confinement  to  a  literature 
has  greatly  narrowed  the  knowledge-diffusing 
function  of  the  church.  Were  the  church  free 
to  depart  from  a  closely  limited  field  of  informa- 
tion and  embark  upon  a  broader  career  of 
knowledge  diffusion,  preaching  lessons  in  sci- 
entific hygiene,  agriculture,  law,  medicine,  in- 
vestments, politics  and  economics,  its  function 
in  helping  to  put  individuals  in  right  adjust- 
ment to  their  physical  and  social  surround- 
ings would  be  vastly  increased.  The  clergy- 
man's function  becomes  that  of  personal  ser\dce 
and  the  church  loses  its  hereditary  character  of 
school.  Clerical  service  rendered  in  behalf 
of  the  needy  and  discouraged  and  in  behalf  of 
community  improvement  becomes  the  typical 
service  of  the  church,  and  the  knowledge-diffus- 
ing function,  represented  in  the  early  union  of 
church  and  school  and  in  the  New  England 
preacher,  who  was  the  repository  of  learning  in 
his  community,  is  quite  fully  transferred  to  sec- 
ular educational  institutions. 

Current  tendencies  in  the  church  are  signifi- 
cant. Fewer  young  men  are  preparing  for  the 
ministry.  The  closed  church  has  become  com- 
mon, especially  in  the  smaller  towns  and  in  the 
country".  The  indifference  of  men  to  church 
services  is  pronounced.     Theological  seminaries 

81 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

of  repute  are  abandoned  or  decadent.  But 
along"  with  atrophy  there  is  new  growth.  The 
clergyman  who,  abandoning  repetitious  dis- 
course, launches  out  into  sociology  and  reform, 
engaging  in  social  service  related  to  immediate 
needs,  attracts  a  following  and  builds  up  impos- 
ing activities.  Teaching  science  in  popular 
form,  more  particularly  a  type  whose  laboratory 
is  life,  the  progressive  clergyman  makes  a  place 
for  himself  beyond  the  reach  of  atrophy. 

The  difficulties  of  the  clergyman  who  would 
live  by  the  traditions  of  the  church  as  a  school 
are  increased  by  the  relatively  small  number  of 
persons  not  reading  extensively.  Even  the  uni- 
versity professor  finds  it  difficult  to  surj^rise 
with  unexpected  information.  At  least  a  su- 
perficial general  knowledge  of  science  is  abroad, 
and  the  successful  teaching  of  adults  requires  a 
specialisation  in  subjects  possible  when,  as  in 
a  college,  various  branches  of  knowledge  are 
taught  and  cultivated  intensively,  but  hardly 
possible  under  the  conditions  in  which  the 
clergyman  labours. 

The  future  clergyman  will  no  doubt  become  a 
practitioner  of  knowledge,  similar  to  the  at- 
torney, rather  than  continue  the  function  which 
first  characterised  his  class,  that  of  fonnal  in- 
struction.    The  knowledge  practised,  prescribed 

82 


Tlie  First  Teacher 

and  promoted  by  him  will  include  an  ethical  code 
of  traditional  orig'in  but  modified  and  adapted 
to  meet  modern  conditions,  and  will  embody  a 
fresh  accession  of  knowledge  derived  from  con- 
temporary science.  While  still  a  teacher,  and 
the  church  still  a  school,  the  clergyman  and  the 
church  will  probably  become  far  more  closely 
related  to  social  service  than  to  formal  instruc- 
tion. The  shifting  to  a  new  basis  of  effort  is 
evident  in  the  many  signs  of  change. 

The  general  observance  of  a  day  of  rest  on 
Sunday  and  the  fairly  common  legal  recognition 
of  Sunday  give  the  church  access  to  the  atten- 
tion of  adults  afforded  no  other  educational 
agency.  The  capacity  of  church  buildings  fa- 
vours their  use  for  instructional  purposes. 
At  least  by  co-operation  with  lecturers  and 
specialists  the  church  might  easily  maintain 
courses  of  instruction  supplementing  the 
formal  curricula  of  the  higher  schools. 

Improvement  in  method  as  well  as  change  in 
matter  would  affect  the  efficiency  of  the  church. 
The  method  of  dogmatic  statement,  as  in  the  for- 
mal homily,  precludes  debate.  The  unmodified 
lecture  method  of  teaching,  with  no  opportunity 
for  pedagogical  discussions,  places  the  typical 
sermon  or  exhortation  on  a  somewhat  low  level 
of  instructional  efficiency. 

83 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

The  special  contributions  of  church  instruc- 
tion have  been  along  the  line  of  higher  consump- 
tional  efficiency.  In  the  middle  ages  religious 
instruction  essayed  to  prepare  the  individual 
for  meeting  the  requirements  of  an  ideal  future 
environment.  Later  tendencies  have  empha- 
sised adjustment  to  life  as  it  now  is.  Practi- 
cally no  knowledge  of  direct  productional 
quality  has  been  imparted,  saving  that  related 
to  the  monastic  industries.  The  dignity  of 
labour  or  rather  the  duty  of  toiling  in  content- 
ment has  been  preached  with  effects  upon  pro- 
duction. The  knowledge  of  the  use  of  things, 
of  attitude  toward  the  material  values  of  this 
world,  of  a  scale  of  worth,  has  ever  been  incul- 
cated. 

The  larger  emphasis  upon  consumptional  in- 
struction is  evidenced  by  the  high  place  taken 
by  forms  and  ceremony,  music,  architecture, 
colour,  dress  and  decorum  of  formal  services. 
Those  most  appreciative  of  all  forms  of  art  have 
usually  been  strongly  attracted.  The  collateral 
literature  of  the  church,  its  hymns  and  litanies 
and  the  sublimated  phrase  and  finished  aphor- 
ism, appeals  especially  to  those  fitted  by  nature 
or  traditions  for  the  enjojTiient  of  rare  values. 
Relatively  less  stress  has  been  placed  upon  how 
goods  should  be  produced  or  distributed,  the 

84 


The  First  Teacher 

current  practices  in  these  relations  receiving  but 
secondary  attention. 

Increase  in  volume  of  knowledge  lias  com- 
pelled the  establishment  of  special  agencies  for 
the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  with  which  the 
church,  in  its  knowledge-diffusing  function,  has 
been  unable  to  keep  pace.  In  this  function  the 
church  has  played  in  the  past  an  impressive 
part,  but  neither  by  present  organisation  nor  by 
catholicity  of  ideals  as  to  knowledge  values,  does 
the  church  seem  likely  to  overtake  in  diffusional 
efficiency  the  specially  created  instrumentalities 
whose  sole  purpose  is  the  discovery  of  new 
truths  and  the  dissemination  of  learning  and 
which  are  supported  by  the  public  as  a  whole 
with  singleness  of  purpose. 


85 


IX 

Other  Agencies 

Simple  communication,  the  church,  the  press 
and  the  specialist  are  more  or  less  efficient  dif- 
fusers  of  knowledge  more  or  less  relevant  to 
the  needs  of  life.  Other  agencies  are  also  em- 
ployed, and  the  need  of  still  further  agencies  for 
effective  distribution  is  becoming  widely  felt. 
Whatever  knowledge  exists  in  any  one's  con- 
sciousness or  preserved  in  print,  having  a  bear- 
ing upon  human  welfare,  should  be  sent  to  the 
points  of  need.  That  any  one  should  suffer  or 
undergo  loss  from  lack  of  information  which 
might  be  issued  to  him  is  a  tragedy.  Wlierever 
exists  a  person  who  is  injured  through  igno- 
rance, to  that  point  of  need  the  agencies  for  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge  should  transmit  the  nec- 
essary information. 

But  knowledge  alone  is  not  sufficient.  Ca- 
pacity and  intelligence  must  be  present.  Very 
true,  but  since  capacity  and  intelligence  arise, 
in  the  long  run,  from  the  presence  of  knowledge 
and  the  attempt  to  make  use  of  it,  the  personal 

86 


Other  Agencies 

factors  required  for  the  good  use  of  knowledge 
are  very  closely  associated  with  the  process  of 
diffusion.  Diffusion  becomes  the  central  fact  in 
the  process  of  raising  intelligence  to  the  level 
required  for  the  good  use  of  knowledge  sup- 
plied, and  the  indispensable  condition  of  fa- 
vourable adjustment  to  environment. 

One  commonly  thinks  of  books  as  a  chief 
means  of  diffusion,  and  as  such  they  underlie 
the  work  of  specific  agencies.  Books  often  fail 
to  give  as  much  assistance  as  one  might  expect. 
The  average  reader  needs  direction  in  finding 
what  he  would  profit  by,  and  the  material  of 
real  value  to  him  may  exist  as  items  of  informa- 
tion scattered  through  many  volumes,  a  particu- 
lar book  often  containing  but  little  of  impor- 
tance for  the  purpose  for  which  the  search  is 
made.  The  reader  who  is  not  a  specialist  is 
therefore  often  as  much  in  need  of  direction  as 
of  books  alone.  The  assistance  rendered  by 
well-organised  libraries  constitutes  a  most  im- 
portant step  in  successful  diffusion.  The 
great  number  of  books  and  their  bewildering 
appeals  lessen  the  likelihood  of  the  casual  read- 
er's wise  use  of  them. 

The  interpreter  of  books  is  a  necessity. 
Print  is  weak  compared  with  oral  explanation, 
accompanied  by   discussion   and   query.    The 

87 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

public  meeting,  the  convention,  tlie  civic  center 
at  which  free  discussion  is  encouraged,  and  the 
exhaustive  consideration  of  essential  items  of 
knowledge,  possible  when  a  company  is  assem- 
bled and  attention  is  fixed,  make  for  lasting  im- 
pressions not  usual  in  ordinary  reading. 

As  an  outgrowth  of  classroom  instruction  va- 
rious forms  of  college  extension  have  appeared. 
Extension  recognises  the  fact  that  adults  who 
cannot  attend  classes  have  needs  for  informa- 
tion which  should  be  immediately  met.  Uni- 
versity extension,  developed  in  England,  and  at- 
tempted later  in  the  United  States,  catered  to 
the  interests  of  higher  culture  in  communities  by 
lecturers  who  discussed  literature  and  science. 
This  form  of  extension  has  been  superseded 
largely  by  the  extension  of  knowledge  bearing 
upon  the  more  obvious  needs  of  various  classes, 
as  farmers,  mechanics  and  housewives.  Agri- 
cultural colleges  have  set  standards  of  efficiency 
in  this  form  of  activity.  Lecture  courses  and 
correspondence  study  for  those  living  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  higher  institutions  of  learning 
are  a  means  of  a  broader  diffusion  than  is  pos- 
sible when  the  ideal  of  institutional  service  is 
that  of  retailing  information  merely  to  those 
who  can  enter  the  college  gates.  The  whole 
public  becomes,  under  the  ideals  of  extension, 

88 


Other  Agencies 

the  student  body,  and  no  small  effort  is  spent 
in  diagnosing  the  needs  of  the  audience  and 
transmitting  pertinent  facts  to  cure  maladjust- 
ments. A  large  issuance  of  bulletins  and  leaf- 
lets, press  letters  and  timely  notes,  serves  to 
place  required  information  before  the  eyes  of 
readers  at  seasonable  times.  Given  a  basis  of 
general  information  on  the  part  of  the  recipient 
of  such  information,  the  practical  aid  thus  ren- 
dered is  at  once  measured  in  increased  crops 
and  better  methods,  better  health  and  improved 
conditions  of  living.  Keplies  to  letters  of  in- 
quiry addressed  to  scientists  and  experts,  espe- 
cially such  as  are  connected  with  government 
exjjeriment  stations,  form  no  small  part  of  ex- 
tension acti\dties.  Thousands  of  letters  are  re- 
ceived annually  by  various  departments  whose 
work  covers  such  fields  as  farm  mechanics, 
soil  chemistry,  seed  testing,  gardening,  animal 
industry,  dairying,  forestry,  poultry  raising, 
and  similar  lines.  Indeed  the  letters  written  in 
connection  with  such  inquiries  are  said  to  form 
the  largest  correspondence  school  in  the  world. 
Bulletin  literature  giving  the  results  of  investi- 
gations of  practical  subjects,  as  paints,  foods, 
tillage,  varieties  of  grains,  fruits  and  vegetables, 
issued  by  the  federal  department  of  agriculture 
or  by  the  colleges  and  experiment  stations,  is  of 

89 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

great  volume  and  tends  to  better  methods  of 
production.  Some  bulletin  literature  misses 
the  mark  by  being  written  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  experimenter  rather  than  with  only  the 
needs  of  the  reader  in  view.  Methods  of  ar- 
riving at  conclusions  are  of  less  popular  inter- 
est than  the  specific  rules  and  useful  facts  which 
investigations  have  established.  The  editing  of 
scientific  bulletins  for  economy  of  the  reader's 
time  and  brevity  of  statement  requires  careful 
attention. 

Among  extension  activities  that  of  providing 
clubs  and  local  organisations  with  materials  of 
use  in  debates,  as  bibliographies,  subjects  for 
discussion  and  pamphlets  and  articles,  marks  a 
forward  step  in  preparing  the  public  for  civic 
duties.  Assistance  in  the  understanding  of 
timely  questions,  whose  discussion  involves 
serious  study  of  political  and  economic  prin- 
ciples, can  hardly  fail  to  advance  greatly  the  dis- 
crimination of  the  public  in  regard  to  parties, 
platforms,  and  public  men. 

A  form  of  educational  extension  is  that  illus- 
trated in  the  efforts  of  salesmen  to  enlighten 
buyers  as  to  the  quality  of  goods  and  the  uses, 
advantages  and  makeup  of  manufactured  ar- 
ticles, especially  machinery.  Lessons  in  physics 
accompany  the  sale  of  engines,  agricultural  im- 

90 


Other  Agencies 

plements,  vehicles,  heating  systems  and  "wind- 
mills. Such  lessons  may  fall  from  the  lips  of 
the  salesman  or  be  thrust  upon  the  inquirer  in 
the  form  of  pamphlets  and  circulars.  Individu- 
als, like  backward  nations,  may  be  mentally 
awakened  and  extensively  informed  by  the  sales- 
man. The  instruction  thus  given  is  likely  to  be 
one  sided  and  unsystematic,  but  that  a  fair 
amount  of  scientific  information  accompanies 
the  sale  of  manufactured  articles  is  beyond  ques- 
tion. 

Society  has  formally  designed  or  suddenly  im- 
provised means  of  placing  within  reach  of  the 
individual  knowledge  required  in  many  of  his 
more  obvious  relations.  The  diffusional  system 
is  far  from  perfect,  however,  many  defects  being 
notorious.  While  the  mass  of  mankind  are  en- 
abled to  get  along  after  a  fashion  in  the  new 
situations  whose  demands  can  be  met  only  by 
the  application  of  former  experience,  or  loiowl- 
edge,  the  more  perfect  adjustments  contem- 
plated in  civilised  society  fairly  require  a  more 
highly  developed  diffusional  system.  The  ideal 
is  the  placing  of  any  knowledge  at  the  disposal 
of  any  one  at  any  time  of  need.  The  impossi- 
bility of  doing  this  by  storing  the  mind  with  all 
useful  information  in  the  early  years,  an  ideal 
intimated  by  the  term,  a  finished  education,  must 

91 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

be  acknowledged.  An  approximation  to  the 
highest  ideal  of  diffusion  is  declared  in  the 
words  of  Ezra  Cornell,  founder  of  Cornell  Uni- 
versity, '*I  would  found  an  institution  where 
any  person  can  find  instruction  in  any  study." 
Add  to  this  aim  that  of  causing  the  information 
to  find  any  person,  and  the  ambitions  of  diffu- 
sion are  announced. 

With  the  realisation  that  individual  memory 
is  unable  to  provide  the  items  of  information 
needed  from  time  to  time,  dependence  upon  ref- 
erence works  and  emergency  helps  has  in- 
creased. The  lawyer  does  not  hope  to  know  a 
tithe  of  the  law.  If  he  knows  where  to  find  the 
law  his  professional  conscience  for  scholarship 
is  placated.  Such  knowledge  as  is  needed  for 
his  more  usual  services  is  available  from  mem- 
ory. In  a  sense  the  creation  of  a  more  highly 
developed  diffusional  system  is  the  expansion 
of  the  idea  of  reference  works.  The  state-paid 
specialist  or  governmental  department  to  which 
one  turns  for  information  in  exigencies  is  the 
encyclopedia  metamorphosed  by  evolution.  De- 
pendence upon  reference  agencies  is  likely  still 
further  to  increase  with  the  expansion  of  learn- 
ing and  the  complexity  of  relations  to  which 
one  is  subject.  The  more  mobile  one's  en\dron- 
ment,  the  more  one  shifts  his  position  geograph- 

92 


Other  Agencies 

ically  or  socially,  as  by  promotion,  election  to 
office  or  change  of  residence,  the  more  likely  that 
he  will  feel  the  need  of  asking  questions.  The 
improvement  of  the  means  of  supplying  a 
needed  fact  to  any  inquirer  is  therefore  one  of 
the  more  urgent,  if  less  obtrusive  and  conspicu- 
ous,  problems  of  social  economy. 

Some  have  looked  in  the  direction  of  the 
schools  for  the  solution  of  this  problem,  and 
university,  college,  and  high  school  extension 
have  been  thought  to  promise  a  solution.  To  a 
very  large  degree  these  institutions  may  solve 
the  problem.  The  possibility  of  a  considerable 
development  of  extension  work  based  on  teach- 
ing departments  is  large,  and  no  doubt  barely 
realised.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  teacher 
of  physics  or  agriculture,  art  or  education, 
should  not  touch  the  public  at  many  points  and 
teach  those  outside  his  classes  as  well  as  those 
within.  The  teacher's  efforts,  however,  will  no 
doubt  be  mainly  directed  to  the  young  people 
who  meet  him  from  day  to  day,  and  who  can 
give  their  time  to  systematic  study.  Indeed  the 
strategic  point  in  all  public  education  is  the 
classroom  with  its  quota  of  receptive  students 
whose  interests  as  learners  are  undisturbed  by 
business  and  social  interruptions. 

But  a  fair  contribution  to  popular  enlighten- 
93 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

ment  may  be  made  by  teachers  through  extra- 
mural teaching  provided  the  spirit  of  being  of 
public  service  animates  the  teacher.  Why 
should  not  the  teacher  of  law,  medicine,  litera- 
ture, sociology  or  psychology  make  use  of  any 
opportunities  not  inconsistent  with  his  class- 
room duties  to  bring  under  his  instruction  men 
and  women  unable  to  attend  regular  classes? 
A  better  point  of  view  and  insight  into  the  rela- 
tion of  his  subject  to  general  welfare  is  no  small 
part  of  the  advantage  of  such  double  service  on 
the  part  of  the  instructors.  Certainly  any  in- 
cidental opportunities  for  such  extra-class 
teaching  should  be  welcomed. 

That  there  is  an  incompatibility  between  ex- 
tensive extra-class  teaching  and  the  highest  ef- 
ficiency as  a  college  or  high  school  instructor 
is  beyond  question.  It  is  found  that  popular 
lecturing  requires  a  different  kind  of  ability 
than  does  institutional  work  and  that  the  di- 
vision of  time  between  class  and  extension  ac- 
tivities makes  for  losses.  The  simplicity  and 
repetition  which  must  characterise  instruction 
designed  for  audiences  but  slightly  acquainted 
with  particular  subject  matter  would  be  out  of 
place  in  college  classes,  whose  acquaintance  with 
various  bodies  of  information  may  be  assumed 
from  their  previous  training.     The  populariser 

&4 


Other  Agencies 

may  deal  in  illustrations  and  ungrouped  facts 
in  ways  which  are  unnecessary  in  advanced 
classes,  in  this  respect  employing  the  methods 
of  the  teacher  in  the  elementary  schools.  The 
development  of  college  extension  to  its  fuller 
usefulness  will  doubtless  demand  the  division  of 
teaching  function  between  the  professor  and  the 
field  instructor.  Two  faculties  will  need  exist, 
one  devoting  its  main  efforts  to  a  chosen  number 
who  attend  the  higher  institutions,  and  the  other 
going  forth  as  emissaries  of  a  gospel  of  science 
adapted  to  the  humblest  and  most  frequently  ex- 
perienced needs.  The  organisation  of  distinct 
departments  of  extension  in  the  higher  institu- 
tions with  statTs  who  make  a  special  study  of 
what  communities  need  in  the  way  of  timely 
information  and  of  means  to  supply  such  in- 
formation seems  to  foreshadow  the  evolution  of 
the  college  with  reference  to  the  teaching  of 
adults  not  in  actual  attendance. 

A  variety  of  methods  of  conducting  extra- 
mural instruction  have  appeared,  of  which  the 
farmers'  institute  affords  an  interesting  exam- 
ple. A  number  of  specialists  in  agriculture  and 
domestic  science  may  spend  a  day  or  two,  or  as 
in  a  plan  emploj^ed  at  the  Iowa  State  College,  a 
week,  in  a  place,  giving  short  lessons  on  prac- 
tical topics,  and  demonstrations  of  better  meth- 

95 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

ods,  constituting  a  peripatetic  school  of  most 
utilitarian  philosophy.  If  conducted  in  the  win- 
ter months,  when  large  attendance  may  be  se- 
cured, such  institutes  result  in  the  tuition  of 
many  thousands  who  otherwise  would  be  unim- 
pressed with  the  importance  of  scientific  meth- 
ods, reading  but  slightly  or  giving  little  heed  to 
the  less  emphatic  statement  of  similar  ideas  in 
farm  papers.  Speakers  at  farmers'  institutes 
are  called  upon  for  counsel  between  times  and 
perform  services  with  respect  to  crops  and  farm 
management  like  those  which  the  physician  per- 
forms with  reference  to  disease.  The  addresses 
delivered  during  a  year  in  a  given  state  form  a 
volume  of  peculiarly  valuable  information  for 
producers. 

Similar  to  the  farmers '  institute  in  nature  and 
scope  of  instruction  are  the  vocational  short 
courses  offered  at  various  colleges  and  univer- 
sities. Courses  of  a  few  days  or  a  few  weeks 
are  organised  for  any  who  may  care  to  attend 
them,  no  entrance  examinations  or  credentials 
being  called  for.  Farmers,  their  wives  and 
children  in  this  way  attend  college  for  a  short 
time  for  instruction  in  beekeeping,  dairying, 
horticulture,  poultry  raising,  farm  accounts, 
animal  husbandry,  veterinary  science,  steam  and 
gasoline  engineering,  farm  mechanics,  drainage, 

96 


Other  Agencies 

cooking,  and  sewing.  The  establishment  of  such 
short  courses  at  high  schools  prepared  to  teach 
agricultural  subjects  enlarges  the  influence  of 
such  instruction  and  relieves  the  higher  institu- 
tions of  the  burden  of  maintaining  a  special 
staff  of  instructors  and  of  providing  room  for 
the  large  number  who  wish  to  attend.  Young 
men  and  women  of  the  country  find  in  the  win- 
ter short  courses  given  at  high  schools  or  col- 
leges a  valuable  opportunity. 

The  need  for  educational  agencies  differing 
in  methods  from  the  secondary  and  higher 
schools  which  maintain  long  courses  and  exact 
substantial  requirements  for  entrance  is  met  in 
part  by  business  schools  of  bookkeeping,  type- 
writing and  shorthand,  by  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and 
Y.  "W.  C.  A.  classes,  by  night  and  continuation 
schools,  and  by  private  correspondence  schools. 
With  the  decline  of  apprenticeship  and  the 
growing  unimportance  of  the  home  as  a  school 
of  industry  has  come  about  a  demand  for  voca- 
tional instruction  which  the  public  schools  have 
as  yet  in  large  measure  been  unable  to  afford. 
A  multitude  of  educational  expedients  are  re- 
sorted to  pending  the  development  of  the  public 
schools  and  universities  into  adequate  institu- 
tions for  the  free  instruction  of  the  host  of 
young  people  who  under  present  conditions  of 

97 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

wealtli  distribution  have  but  little  time  that 
may  be  spent  in  formal  instruction.  The  pub- 
lic school  system  can  be  of  ideal  service  only 
when  the  state  insures  to  every  young  person 
not  only  the  facilities  of  education  which  con- 
sist of  buildings  and  instructors,  but  also  main- 
tenance sufficient  to  enable  one  to  accept  the 
education  which  the  state  provides.  Until  such 
maintenance  is  assured  expedients  will  be  nec- 
essary to  reach  the  youth  employed  in  offices 
and  shops  with  such  information  as  they  most 
urgently  need. 

A  larger  development  of  agencies  to  supply 
information  to  points  of  need  is  made  necessary 
by  the  multitude  of  situations  in  which  one  must 
play  an  unexpected  part.  Expansion  of  the 
school  system  to  include  a  wider  range  of  sub- 
ject matter  and  to  reach  a  larger  number  of 
students,  either  in  residence  or  otherwise,  will 
do  much  to  meet  demands  for  information,  but 
the  required  information  will  often  need  to  be 
supplied  by  agencies  that  can  reach  the  person 
in  need  at  a  moment's  notice  wherever  he  may 
be  situated.  Such  service  contemplates  a  finer 
elaboration  of  knowledge  diffusion  than  college 
extension,  as  at  present  understood,  attempts. 
Hardly  a  day,  even  an  hour,  passes  during  which 
one  does  not  experience  the  need  of  information 

98 


Other  Agencies 

which  he  might  with  delay  and  some  trouble  find 
out  for  himself,  or  regarding  which  he  is  at  utter 
loss.  In  one's  daily  employment  expense  and 
poor  results  are  entailed  very  frequently  for  the 
lack  of  information  which  might  be  made  im- 
mediately available.  Reference  books  supply  a 
part  of  such  information,  but  probably  a  major- 
ity of  the  important  questions  that  arise  in  the 
daily  life  of  the  majority  of  people  go  unan- 
swered, books  not  being  at  hand  and  the  person 
who  knows  not  being  of  immediate  acquaint- 
ance. In  fact  ignorance  is  accepted  as  a  normal 
condition  and  a  trial  and  error  method  meet- 
ing emergencies  and  commoner  demands  be- 
comes the  practice.  The  instinct  to  ask 
questions  becomes  atrophied  and  adults  go  about 
their  work  and  diversion  mechanically,  quite 
oblivious  to  the  possibility  of  improving  their 
adjustments  by  invoking  the  aid  of  knowledge. 
Maladjustments  are  accepted  as  a  matter  of 
course,  and  preventable  loss  and  hardship  are 
undergone  in  a  spirit  of  resignation  bom  of  the 
failure  of  knowledge-diffusing  agencies  to  im- 
press upon  the  pu])lic  the  habit  of  inquiry'. 
When  one  finds  himself  in  a  position  wlioro  his 
own  knowledge  fails,  the  first  thought  should  be 
of  a  source  from  which  appropriate  knowledge 
may  be  obtained.     How  often  on  the  contrary 

99 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

is  ignorance  accepted  as  inevitable.  **I  don't 
know,"  is  the  common  expression  rather  than, 
"I  am  nnable  to  find  out." 

To  encourage  the  tendency  to  seek  informa- 
tion when  needed  and  to  minister  to  the  individ- 
ual in  his  exigencies,  enlargement  of  the  diffu- 
sional  system  seems  necessary.  The  almost 
universal  use  of  the  telephone  supplies  a  factor 
which  might  be  employed  to  bridge  the  final 
gulf  of  ignorance,  provided  the  agency  existed 
at  the  other  end  for  responding  to  the  inquirer. 
A  national  information  department  with  bu- 
reaus in  localities  suggests  itself.  Local  bu- 
reaus might  be  set  up  in  public  libraries  or  in 
connection  with  educational  institutions,  to 
which  queries  might  be  addressed.  Certainly 
no  one  person  can  be  his  own  information  bu- 
reau under  the  complexities  of  modern  life,  and 
assuredly  there  is  no  one,  however  resourceful, 
engaged  in  active  business  or  professional  pur- 
suits who  would  not  profit  immensely  by  being 
enabled  to  call  at  once  upon  such  dispensaries. 
The  present  public  library  and  college  exten- 
sion department  represent  the  tadpole  stage  of 
a  greater  diffusional  system. 

The  assembling  and  convenient  classification 
of  all  important  knowledge,  particularly  with 

100 


Other  Agencies 

reference  to  that  needed  in  the  various  com- 
munities, and  the  development  of  a  bureau  force 
of  prescriptionists  of  information,  with  the 
highest  ingenuity  of  ofiice  economy  at  their  com- 
mand, would  effect  a  junction  of  supply  and 
demand  in  the  world  of  knowledge,  making  for 
the  avoidance  of  human  ills  and  positive  gains 
for  civilisation.  It  should  be  possible  for  any 
one  at  any  time  to  call  upon  such  state-sup- 
ported bureaus  for  any  needed  information, 
which,  if  not  afforded  immediately  by  the  local 
bureau,  might  be  transmitted  to  the  local  bu- 
reau from  the  central  department,  which  with 
its  staffs  of  experts  in  the  discovery  and  organ- 
isation of  data  for  general  use  would  be  a  clear- 
ing house  of  the  world's  stock  of  tested  knowl- 
edge. The  employment  by  such  national 
department  of  agents  to  advise  inquirers  at 
their  places  of  business  or  farms  and  give  spe- 
cific instruction,  illustrated  in  the  assistance 
given  to  farmers  by  visiting  experts  in  Belgium, 
Holland,  and  to  some  extent  in  the  United  States 
to-day,  would  be  implied  in  the  scheme  of  dif- 
fusion suggested.  The  teaching  of  the  young, 
which  is  the  main  province  of  the  schools,  would 
thus  be  supplemented  by  a  comprehensive  sys- 
tem for  transmitting  to  any  one  in  need  such 

101 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

facts  and  principles  from  the  total  of  organised 
knowledge  as  the  exigencies  of  the  moment 
might  demand. 

Indeed  the  congestion  of  information  repre- 
sented in  the  masses  of  published  data,  and 
scientific  articles  and  statistics  now  accumulated 
in  government  departments  and  institutions  of 
learning  and  research,  and  by  the  publications 
of  penal,  charitable  and  other  institutions,  sug- 
gests the  importance  of  establishing  more  effi- 
cient means  of  getting  information  to  the  public. 
Mountains  of  reports,  bulletins,  consular  docu- 
ments,  and  of  miscellaneous  printed  matter, 
from  national,  state,  municipal  and  other  public 
sources,  as  well  as  similar  matter  from  private 
sources,  are  prepared  with  the  hope  that  the 
public  will  burrow  its  way  through,  or  that  the 
person  concerned  will  scent  the  item  of  interest 
through  tons  of  paper.     The  miscarriage  of  in- 
formation and  its  wasteful  oblivion  when  of- 
fered in  such  forms  are  notorious.     The  print- 
ing of  matter  for  public  use  is  but  a  step  toward 
its  proper  employment.     Personal  services  are 
necessary  in  order  that  the  inquirer  may  not 
have  to  constitute  himself  an  expert  librarian 
or  investigator  and  spend  days  or  months  in 
collating  information  which  system  should  make 
available  at  request.    Merely  to  make  govem- 

102 


Other  Agencies 

mental  publications  serve  the  purpose  for  which 
they  are  prepared  requires  special  means  of  dif- 
fusion. 

If  in  addition  to  making  governmental  pub- 
lications more  available  a  national  department 
of  information  sought  to  collect  the  essential 
knowledge  contained  in  other  publications,  and 
especially  attempted  to  bring  together  for  ap- 
plication to  daily  needs  such  information  as 
lies  scattered  and  unorganised,  in  print  or 
not  in  print,  the  value  of  its  services  would  be 
immeasurable. 

With  the  establishment  of  ampler  means  of 
diffusion  not  only  the  victim  of  ignorance  but 
the  man  who  professes  a  special  knowledge 
would  benefit.  The  contractor,  plumber, 
trained  nurse  or  physician  often  must  confess 
ignorance  because  of  non-access  to  an  organised 
knowledge  bearing  upon  their  emplojTiients. 
With  stores  of  vocational  information  opened 
through  system  there  would  need  be  little  delay 
in  learning  whether  a  cast  iron  pipe  rusts  less 
full  or  empty,  or  whether  a  proposed  artesian 
well  is  within  or  without  an  artesian  basin. 


103 


X 

The  School 

Thb  particular  agency  established  for  the  dif- 
fusion of  knowledge  is  the  school.  Other 
agencies  have  preceded  and  others  supplement 
and  coexist.  But  to  the  school  we  look  as  the 
principal  agency  in  the  diffusion  of  knowledge. 
The  urgent  importance  of  equipping  all  with  a 
maximum  amount  of  valuable  information,  long 
known  or  newly  attained,  which  is  felt  increas- 
ingly in  the  multiplying  relations  of  civilisation, 
serves  to  direct  all  eyes  to  the  school  and  centre 
the  interests  and  sympathies  of  all  upon  educa- 
tion as  the  guardian  of  what  is  good  from  the 
past  and  applicable  to  present  needs. 

The  greater  amount  of  information  required 
now  than  formerly  as  a  preparation  for  life  and 
the  longer  period  of  school  attendance  give  the 
school  a  strategic  position  in  society.  A  virtual 
monopoly  of  the  pupil's  attention  for  the  first 
one  fourth  or  third  of  his  life  is,  under  ideal 
conditions,  assured.  During  this  period  such 
ideas  and  portions  of  accumulated  knowledge  as 

104 


The  School 

may  be  acceptable  fo  administrators  of  educa- 
tion have  almost  exclusive  claims  upon  the 
learner.  The  opportunity  of  the  school  to  shape 
individual  character  and  social  conditions 
through  the  medium  of  instruction  appears  cor- 
respondingly wide. 

The  services  of  the  school  in  the  diffusion  of 
knowledge  are  registered  in  ever-increasing  en- 
lightenment and  store  of  information  among  all 
classes.  The  attainment  of  almost  universal  lit- 
eracy is  one  of  the  greatest  triumphs  of  the  edu- 
cational system.  Learning  to  read  opens  up  the 
long  road  of  social  and  personal  advancement 
and  were  the  results  of  three  centuries  of  popu- 
lar education  to  be  judged  merely  by  the  reces- 
sion of  illiteracy  all  the  expenditures  for 
education  would  be  justified.  Reading  knowl- 
edge has  the  peculiar  merit  of  being  indispensa- 
ble in  nearly  all  the  relations  of  life.  There  are 
facts  which  one  needs  at  rare  intervals,  or  in  a 
narrow  and  infrequent  range  of  relations,  but 
reading  knowledge  is  concerned  in  so  many  re- 
lations during  all  the  years  of  life  that  no  other 
knowledge  is  comparable  to  that  of  how  to  read. 

Much  knowledge  has  flowed  among  the  peo- 
ple through  other  channels  than  the  schools  and 
much  which  might  have  flowed  through  school 
channels  has  been  dammed  up  for  lack  of  outlet 

105 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

in  the  teaching  system,  but  in  the  wide  dissem- 
ination of  the  fundamentals  of  knowledge  as 
embodied  in  geography,  natural  history,  arith- 
metic, language,  and  the  elements  of  various 
sciences  and  cultures,  differing  with  the  period 
and  grade  of  school,  the  services  of  the  school 
have  been  such  as  to  make  even  the  feeble  be- 
ginnings of  instruction  represented  by  the  little 
red  schoolhouse  synonymous  with  the  upbuild- 
ing of  the  nation. 

Among  the  peculiar  advantages  of  the  school 
is  the  recitation.  Much  of  what  we  merely  read 
we  do  not  remember.  KJiowledge  needs  to  be 
impressed  to  be  at  one's  command.  Class  dis- 
cussions tend  to  fix  points  in  mind.  Examina- 
tions are  a  device  to  encourage  remembering. 
The  casual  reader  does  not  master  a  subject  as 
does  the  student.  The  school  employs  various 
means  for  making  knowledge  a  real  possession. 
Other  agencies  may  offer  a  larger  bulk  of  in- 
formation, but  none  impresses  lessons  more 
thoroughly. 

That  there  are  limitations  to  the  efficiency  of 
the  school,  arising  from  historical  or  other 
causes,  may  be  frankly  recognised. 

The  importance  of  stimulating  intelligence 
and  establishing  thought  habits  has  no  doubt 
had  much  to  do  with  the  origin  and  persistence 

106 


The  School 

of  the  educational  theory  that  it  matters  little 
•what  one  studies  so  long  as  he  studies  some- 
thing. Mental  training  has  been  sought 
through  the  agency  of  knowledge  not  commend- 
ing itself  primarily  for  its  applicability  to  the 
later  life  of  the  learner,  except  as  it  results  in 
increased  mental  power  and  acceptable  tenden- 
cies. Under  this  theory  considerable  indiffer- 
ence has  appeared  with  reference  to  the 
intrinsic  value  of  information  imparted,  and 
kinds  of  knowledge  of  doubtful  utilitarian  value 
have  for  development  purposes  been  ranked 
high. 

The  prevalence  of  the  disciplinary  conception 
of  subject  matter  as  contrasted  with  that  of  util- 
ity has  had  much  to  do  with  the  nature  of  ma- 
terials descending  to  the  present  day  through 
the  traditional  curriculum.  Knowledge  which 
entered  the  curriculum  at  an  early  period  for 
practical  uses  has  in  some  cases  been  retained 
after  becoming  relatively  unpractical,  for  dis- 
ciplinary reasons,  and  a  mass  of  knowledge  of 
indifferent  practical  character  has  found  lodg- 
ment in  curricula  in  default  of  strict  evalua- 
tion for  practical  values.  Not  only  so,  but  the 
gleaning  of  knowledge  of  intrinsic  value  and  its 
incorporation  in  the  curriculum  have  been  kept 
in  abeyance  because  of  the  dominance  of  the 

107 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

theory  that  it  matters  little  what  one  learns  pro- 
vided he  studies  devotedly.  Not  to  underrate 
the  vast  services  of  the  school  as  a  diffuser  of 
valuable  information,  it  is  undeniable  that  inef- 
ficiency has  prevailed  due  to  the  unnecessary 
antithesis  of  discipline  and  information. 

So  important  is  intelUgence  in  applying  items 
of  knowledge  and  the  happy  knack  of  making 
use  of  facts,  that  were  non-utilitarian  informa- 
tion far  superior  for  purposes  of  mental  gym- 
nastic it  would  need  be  conceded  a  wise  practice 
to  fill  curricula  with  such  material.  But  it 
can  hardly  be  contended  to-day  that  any  pecu- 
liar merit  inheres  in  subject  matter  not  relevant 
to  the  needs  of  life.  There  are  no  mental  fac- 
ulties or  powers  which  may  be  trained  by  non- 
utilitarian  knowledge  which  may  not  be  equally 
well  trained  by  means  of  knowledge  of  intrinsic 
value.  Memory,  reasoning,  imagination,  sensi- 
bility and  observation  surely  are  highly  involved 
in  the  learning  of  information  which  one  will 
use  in  effecting  necessary  adjustments  to  the 
world.  Moreover,  it  seems  reasonable  that  such 
knowledge  as  one  will  make  use  of  in  later  years 
should  be  the  same  as  that  which  might  afford 
the  best  mental  drill  and  stimulation.  Train- 
ing the  mind  is  the  setting  up  of  habits  among 
the  conscious  processes,  and  habits  are  special 

108 


The  School 

in  their  nature.  One  may  be  trained  to  have 
good  judgment  in  dealing  with  certain  data  and 
prove  most  injudicious  in  dealing  with  other 
matters.  The  more  unrelated  to  life  the  ma- 
terials of  study  are  the  more  likely  would  seem 
the  attainment  of  mental  traits  at  cross  pur- 
poses with  the  needs  of  Hfe.  It  seems  a  ques- 
tionable proceeding  to  train  the  mind 
exclusively  upon  any  class  of  facts  not  to  be 
employed  in  one's  relations  to  environment. 
Ways  of  looking  at  things  and  judging  realities 
may  be  deeply  atfected  by  the  kind  of  matter 
one's  attention  has  been  given  to  during  the 
formative  period.  The  burden  of  proof  rests 
upon  the  advocate  of  any  system  of  training 
mental  faculties  in  which  is  not  employed  the 
knowledge  which  the  individual  will  probably 
use  in  making  his  future  adjustments. 

Much  has  been  taught  because  it  was  easiest 
to  teach  in  that  the  materials  were  most  avail- 
able. No  subject  matter  is  more  abundant  than 
the  forms  of  language.  No  subject  meets  tests 
of  value  better  than  language,  but  on  the  other 
hand,  carried  to  extremes,  possibly  no  subject 
matter  can  be  more  useless.  The  existence  of 
the  great  classical  languages  with  an  extensive 
literature  afforded  an  opportunity  in  teaching 
materials  which  was  not  sufficiently  resisted. 

109 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

The  difficulties  of  organising  science  by  induc- 
tion were  avoided  in  the  hyperdevelopment  of 
language  instruction. 

Command  of  one 's  native  language  makes  for 
production,  gives  the  instrument  for  adjustment 
to  distribution  and  satisfies  through  literature 
the  higher  needs.  Acquaintance  with  foreign 
languages  promotes  these  ends  in  diminishing 
scale  and  varying  with  individuals.  In  appar- 
ent disregard  of  the  application  to  life  of  the 
words  and  rules  of  foreign  language,  academic 
instruction  has  laid  emphasis  upon  verbal  at- 
tainments, and  many  curricula  if  stripped  of 
their  content  of  foreign  language  would  show 
the  utmost  poverty. 

Other  types  of  knowledge  have  entered  the 
curriculum  on  a  plane  far  removed  from  daily 
needs.  Metaphysics  and  logic,  as  cultivated 
especially  in  the  middle  ages,  elaborated  ma- 
terials obtainable  by  introspection  and  shunned 
tests  of  practical  efficiency. 

Historical  materials  have  been  readily  avail- 
able and  have,  like  languages,  occupied  much 
space  in  curricula.  Perhaps  no  kind  of  learn- 
ing requires  more  careful  winnowing  to  ex- 
clude inert  and  even  deleterious  matter.  In 
history  quantities  of  material  may  be  found 
which  are  of  all  grades  of  importance  or  of 

110 


The  School 

none.  The  value  of  historical  obliviscence  in 
promoting  progress  is  not  to  be  overlooked. 
The  individual  would  remain  a  child  in  many 
respects  if  he  forgot  nothing.  The  childish 
grudge,  the  wrong  way  of  doing  things,  the 
faulty  conclusion,  and  the  repulsive  detail  are 
happily  forgotten.  So  far  as  history  parades 
the  barbarities,  pseudo  science,  battles  and  de- 
ficiencies of  race  infancy,  it  supplies  undesirable 
suggestions.  The  law,  perhaps  the  least  pro- 
gressive of  professions,  takes  its  character  from 
the  predominance  of  historical  elements  in  the 
lawyer's  training.  History  should  be  so  inter- 
preted and  presented  that  the  pupil  would  not 
feel  the  full  force  of  ancient  examples,  if  un- 
desirable, constructive  suggestions  should  be 
disentangled  and  unwise  fascinations  guarded 
against.  Details  of  history,  so  abundant  and 
easily  employed  to  build  courses,  may  have  lit- 
tle place  in  one's  equipment  for  the  relations  of 
to-day.  Indeed  the  reviewing  of  systems  of 
thought  and  social  practices  from  the  earlier 
centuries  tends  toward  an  atavism.  The  school- 
boy who  after  studying  battles  expresses  regret 
because  Japan  and  the  United  States  do  not  go 
to  war,  and  the  Greek  instructor  whose  outlook 
upon  modern  life  is  from  a  standpoint  two  thou- 
sand years  removed,  are  examples.    We  need 

111 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

to  forget  liberally,  while  remembering  wisely 
what  has  happened  in  the  past.  Substantial 
political  progress  and  hopeful  social  innovations 
have  come  from  pioneer  communities,  as  New 
Zealand,  Australia,  and  the  United  States,  espe- 
cially the  West,  where  people  have  forgotten 
relatively  more  of  the  past,  where  historical 
knowledge  is  thin  and  far  away.  But  in  old 
communities,  where  even  the  merest  trifle  of 
family  or  neighbourhood  gossip  is  embalmed 
for  years  and  where  hoary  institutions  and 
landmarks  cite  eternally  to  the  past,  the  very 
fundamental  of  advancement  is  defeated — ob- 
liviscence. 

So  clogged  with  inert  and  inherently  useless 
items  of  knowledge  may  become  various  studies 
that  often  the  student  of  certain  types  of  curric- 
ula is  surprised  when  he  finds  that  his  school 
knowledge  actually  plays  a  part  in  his  adjust- 
ments. Often  he  seeks  in  vain  for  instances 
where  facts  learned  have  proved  of  unmistak- 
able value  to  him.  In  need  of  knowledge  many 
times  a  day  to  effect  relations  he  relies  in  many 
cases  upon  knowledge  from  extra-academic 
sources.  He  has  learned  languages  that  are  not 
spoken  by  those  with  whom  he  deals,  and 
amassed  knowledge  that  does  not  function  no- 
ticeably in  his  occupation  and  his  home.    He  is 

112 


The  School 

puzzled  daily  by  problems  to  which  his  school- 
acquired  information  does  not  apply,  and  pre- 
ventable mistakes  and  losses  show  deficiencies 
in  instruction.  Inquiry  made  of  graduates  as 
to  the  extent  to  which  various  studies  have 
helped  them  after  leaving  the  school  often  leads 
to  disclosures  far  from  complimentary  to  the 
value  of  certain  courses  as  providers  of  us- 
able information.  Ammunition  has  been  sup- 
plied that  does  not  fit  the  gun  that  must  be  used. 
The  bridge,  in  Caesar's  Commentaries,  is  re- 
placed by  a  different  structure,  about  which 
nothing  to  the  point  is  known.  Stray  facts 
about  the  classical  bustard  and  the  Andean  con- 
dor, of  a  certain  value  beyond  doubt,  help  little 
in  the  successful  raising  of  poultry. 

The  lack  of  a  larger  amount  of  knowledge  of 
unquestionable  value  in  the  curriculum  is  partly 
due  to  the  diflSculty  and  expense  of  going  afield 
for  more  valuable  information.  The  teacher 
has  been  a  conduit  of  the  most  accessible  knowl- 
edge, that  which  has  entailed  little  expense. 
Cheapness  has  been  a  principle  governing  the 
organisation  and  impartation  of  knowledge  in 
schools.  Subjects  requiring  apparatus  and  spe- 
cial facilities  for  demonstration  and  illustration 
have  tardily  gained  admission  to  the  more  com- 
mon   schools.    A    classical    college    may    be 

113 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

equipped  with  the  materials  of  instruction  at 
about  the  cost  of  a  high-bred  cow  for  a  school  of 
agriculture. 

While  it  is  true  that  the  most  valuable  knowl- 
edge consists  of  principles  rather  than  percep- 
tions of  objects,  and  that  the  objectification  of 
knowledge  may  easily  be  carried  to  extremes, 
the  modest  financing  necessary  to  the  teaching 
of  certain  kinds  of  knowledge  has  too  often  been 
lacking.  Technical  instruction  has  accordingly 
lagged  far  behind  types  requiring  less  outlay. 

The  curriculum  has  been  a  faulty  vehicle  of 
needed  knowledge  because  of  the  dependent  po- 
sition of  the  teacher.  Financial  insecurity  as 
well  as  conservative  supervision  of  materials 
by  the  community  has  operated  to  reduce  the 
curriculum  to  conformity  with  prevailing  no- 
tions. Darwinism  first  made  its  way  into  the 
universities,  later  into  the  high  schools,  and  is 
still  on  the  waiting  list  of  the  elementary 
schools.  Public  opinion  has  not  been  educated 
to  defer  to  the  superior  knowledge  of  the  com- 
petent teacher  in  matters  coming  particularly 
within  his  range. 

This  limitation  applies  especially  to  instruc- 
tion in  civic  questions.  A  free  discussion  of 
taxation,  the  tariff,  parties  or  the  franchises  of 
local  public  service  corporations  would  be  im- 

114 


The  School 

possible  in  the  school.  Accordingly  the  teacher 
when  dealing  with  political  matters  tends  to 
confine  himself  measurably  to  slavery,  Henry 
Vni,  wildcat  banking,  the  corn  laws  of  Eng- 
land, and  cooled-off  relics  of  past  political  bat- 
tles. The  contributions  directly  operating  to 
civic  betterment  coming  from  the  schools  are 
limited.  Only  political  questions  which  have 
ceased  to  be  active  figure  freely  in  instruction. 
In  view  of  the  fact  that  perhaps  the  greatest 
gap  in  ditfusion  to-day  is  that  in  distributional 
knowledge,  the  limitations  of  the  school  with 
reference  to  imparting  timely  information  are 
the  more  conspicuous.  Such  limitations,  how- 
ever, are  not  necessarily  irremediable. 

Indeed  the  teacher  determines  the  size  of  the 
flow  of  knowledge  of  whatever  sort.  Any  inef- 
ficiency of  the  school  as  a  diffuser  of  informa- 
tion needed  in  the  affairs  of  life  rests  largely 
upon  the  practice  designated  as  ''selling  educa- 
tional positions  to  the  lowest  bidder."  Great 
numbers  of  teachers  are  young  and  hastily  pre- 
pared and  are  inadequate  as  conduits  of  vital 
information.  Even  where  so-called  profes- 
sional training  is  imparted,  which  happens  per- 
haps in  less  than  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  cases, 
the  outlying  information  of  the  teacher  is  often 
meagre    and    far    short    of    what    should    bo 

115 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

available  for  instmction.  Cultivated,  broadly 
read,  large-minded  men  and  women  of  maturity 
and  experience  are  rare  in  the  common  schools. 
Narrowness  of  experience  or  interests  on  the 
part  of  the  teacher  leads  to  stereotyped  infor- 
mation and  unfortunate  omissions.  The  first 
requisite  for  dispensing  knowledge  making  for 
life  adjustments  is  that  the  instructor  have  a 
vivid  consciousness  of  the  more  usual  situations 
in  which  knowledge  will  be  required  in  the  stu- 
dent's later  years.  Such  consciousness  is  not 
common  in  the  young  teacher.  The  highest  ex- 
cellence of  teaching  can  hardly  be  possible  be- 
fore maturity.  The  principle  of  cheapness  in 
education,  which  limits  the  contact  of  the  teacher 
with  other  people  and  opportunities  for  growth, 
results  disastrously  upon  his  fitness  for  know- 
ing and  dispensing  information  of  most  worth  in 
the  pupil's  after  life.  So  beside  the  mark  may 
be  perfunctory  teaching  that  many  self-made 
men  bear  witness  to  the  fact  that  while  not  hav- 
ing attended  schools  they  nevertheless  have  ac- 
quired through  other  agencies  a  stock  of  knowl- 
edge in  quality  and  quantity  as  excellent  as  that 
gained  by  those  who  have  attended  schools  for 
years. 

Certain    ideals    gained   in    experience    with 
young  children  persist  and  affect  the  efficiency 

116 


The  School 

of  the  teacher.  To  the  young  child  the  whole 
world  is  novelty  and  one  fact  is  as  important 
as  another.  The  teaching  of  the  obvious  be- 
comes an  educational  practice  not  soon  enough 
discontinued.  Bulky  details  of  little  signifi- 
cance, which  in  any  event  would  be  very  likely 
picked  up  later  in  the  course  of  casual  experi- 
ence, become  substitutes  for  knowledge  not 
likely  to  be  picked  up  and  of  more  critical  im- 
portance. The  fact,  frequently  illustrated,  that 
a  child  may  omit  a  number  of  years  of  instruc- 
tion and  later  measure  up  with  children  who 
have  never  missed  a  day  of  school  would  indi- 
cate that  a  large  bulk  of  information  may  be 
imparted  which  is  unimportant  or  is  implied  in 
the  child's  extra-school  experience.  This  posi- 
tion is  supported  also  by  the  success  obtained 
by  judicious  parents  in  keeping  absentee  chil- 
dren up  with  their  classes  by  means  of  a  short 
period  of  instruction  a  day.  A  considerable 
percentage  of  what  is  taught  is  pedagogical 
surplusage.  The  practice  of  teaching  the  obvi- 
ous, legitimate  in  the  child's  earliest  days,  be- 
comes a  barrier  to  school  eflBciency  if  continued, 
in  that  it  admits  into  the  curriculum  too  much 
circumstantial  information.  Prolixity,  the  bane 
of  many  courses  in  the  higher  institutions,  evi- 
denced in  swollen  syllabi  and  jjlethoric  depart- 

117 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

mental  courses,  and  in  corpulent  books  whose 
essence  would  require  but  a  pamphlet,  may  have 
its  roots  in  the  ideals  of  the  primary  class. 

Aside  from  the  perfection  of  educational 
machinery  and  the  development  of  a  teaching 
class  of  scholarship  and  maturity,  the  establish- 
ment of  principles  applying  in  the  testing  of 
materials  for  knowledge  values  seems  indis- 
pensable to  the  higher  efficiency  of  the  school  as 
a  diffuser  of  information.  Confined  to  impart- 
ing but  a  small  fraction  of  the  total  of  knowl- 
edge, one  would  think  no  question  could  be  of 
greater  significance  than  that  of  the  choice  of 
materials.  Every  item  and  scrap  of  informa- 
tion should  deserve  its  place  in  the  information 
which  the  schools  impart. 

In  the  main  the  intent  of  curriculum  makers 
has  been  to  supply  such  knowledge  as  is  needed 
in  life.  Various  accidents  and  uncontrolled 
tendencies  have,  however,  conspired  to  deflect 
the  aim.  Every  school  study  represents  a  mass 
of  experience  with  the  world,  and  it  is  only  with 
reference  to  comparative  values  that  educa- 
tional reconstruction  is  warranted.  Whether 
the  more  salient  relations  of  life  are  reflected 
in  the  content  of  studies  is  a  necessary  inquiry, 
but  that  the  studies  offered  in  schools  in  the 
past  have  been  based  upon  certain  relations  to 

118 


The  School 

life  cannot  be  denied.  Tlie  actual  choice  of 
items  of  knowledge  with  which  to  build  curric- 
ula has  been  swayed,  however,  by  a  variety 
of  considerations  in  addition  to  considerations 
of  evident  utility. 

The  school  is  destined  to  become  an  all-im- 
portant agency  for  knowledge  diffusion.  Ham- 
pered by  the  theory  of  formal  discipline,  it  has 
dealt  too  little  with  vital  facts.  But  this  theory 
is  becoming  a  thing  of  the  past.  The  qualifi- 
cations of  teachers  have  been  low,  but  better 
teachers  are  arriving.  Masses  of  inert,  con- 
ventional knowledge  have  clogged  curricula, 
but  the  tendency  is  to  substitute  learning  of 
proved  value.  Knowledge  easily  organised  in 
pedagogical  form  has  been  too  much  taught, 
while  knowledge  by  which  to  live  has  been 
learned  by  chance.  There  must  be  careful 
evaluations  of  knowledge,  as  well  as  excellence 
of  school  equipment  and  general  administration. 

In  the  performance  of  its  duties  as  a  central 
agency  for  accomplishing  civilisation  by  means 
of  knowledge  preserved  and  disseminated,  the 
school  is  undergoing  change  and  improvement 
hardly  paralleled  by  any  other  institution. 
From  being  the  jest  of  literature  the  teacher  has 
arrived  at  a  status  of  service  and  social  recog- 
nition which  affords  marked  contrast  with  edu- 

119 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

cational  conditions  even  a  half  century  ago. 
Educational  effort  is  characterised  by  unremit- 
ting inquiry  as  to  better  ways  of  carrying  out 
the  trust  imposed  by  the  public  and  wholesome 
unrest  and  aspiration  for  higher  standards  and 
excellence  of  performance.  When  the  indi- 
vidual ceases  to  plan  larger  and  better  things  in 
his  own  life  he  bids  for  stagnation,  not  to  say 
decline,  and  much  the  same  may  be  said  of  oc- 
cupations and  professions.  That  an  employ- 
ment is  subjected  to  close  scrutiny  for  defects 
and  the  discovery  of  means  of  larger  service  is 
a  notable  evidence  of  its  evolution. 

Eeadjustment  to  the  demands  of  modem  life 
characterises  education  as  perhaps  few  other 
professions  or  branches  of  service.  Educa- 
tional questions  are  discussed  with  insistence 
and  vigour,  and  guiding  principles  are  being 
beaten  out  in  a  catholic  research  in  which  not 
only  teachers  and  school  administrators  but 
the  general  public  take  part.  Experimentation 
in  curricula  and  institutions  is  steadily  yield- 
ing results  whose  good  effects  are  becoming 
obvious.  From  being  confined  to  serving  a  rela- 
tively small  number  in  limited  ways  the  school 
aspires  to  reach  all  with  the  broadest  assistance. 
Apprenticeship  and  home  teacliing  having  les- 
sened, the  school  extends  its  influence  into  new 

120 


The  School 

channels  of  instruction,  presenting  instruction 
for  the  technical  pursuits,  through  the  higher 
institutions  especially,  and  bringing  moral  and 
cultural  influence  to  bear  supplementary  to  fam- 
ily nurture. 


121 


PART  THREE 
THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CURRICULUM 


123 


c 


XI 

The  Ctjreiculum  and  Democracy 

Democracy  depends  not  only  upon  the  general 
diffusion  of  knowledge,  but  upon  the  kinds  of 
knowledge  diffused.  Confined  to  knowledge  of 
production,  the  individual  is  slave,  peasant  or 
exploited  factory  operative.  Knowledge  of  con- 
sumption alone  makes  one  a  parasite,  while 
those  expert  in  distributional  knowledge  wax 
rich  and  govern.  It  has  commonly  been  ac- 
cepted that  democracy  can  survive  only  in  na- 
tions of  popular  education.  The  f  ramers  of  our 
government  realised  its  importance,  and  pro- 
vision for  schools  was  made  from  the  first. 
Jefferson  and  Washington  were  clear-sighted  in 
their  perception  of  the  need  of  popular  educa- 
tion. Likewise  labour  leaders  have  from  the 
first  espoused  the  cause  of  popular  education, 
believing  that  in  it  lies  the  means  of  greater 
equality. 

But  it  by  no  means  follows  that  popular  edu- 
cation guarantees  democracy.  Indeed  it  may  be 
the  source  of  undemocratic  conditions,  it  may 

125 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

thwart  democracy,  unless  the  kinds  of  learning 
dispensed  are  such  as  to  promote  democracy. 
Does  any  one  fancy  that  the  teaching  of  history 
in  the  German  schools  promotes  democracy? 
The  mere  fact  of  popular  education  by  no  means 
assures  democracy.  Popular  education  may 
promote  democracy  only  when  the  curriculum 
prepares  the  individual  for  the  three  great  eco- 
nomic processes  of  production,  distribution  and 
consumption.  When  the  significant  types  of 
knowledge  are  unreservedly  diffused  through- 
out society  class  distinctions  melt  and  democ- 
racy, so  far  as  nature  permits,  must  prevail. 

How  must  the  curriculum  be  formed  in  a 
democracy?  First,  all  should  be  trained  as  pro- 
ducers. If  all  are  trained  as  producers  there 
will  be  a  tendency  for  all  to  continue  to  be  pro- 
ducers. Even  very  wealthy  people  who  have 
been  trained  to  produce  would  no  doubt  con- 
tinue to  be  useful,  empty  and  extravagant  leis- 
ure having  few  attractions.  Aimless  idleness 
does  not  appeal  to  the  man  or  woman  who  has 
been  schooled  in  industry.  Moreover,  were 
every  one  trained  to  produce,  which  means  edu- 
cated to  do  some  useful  thing  in  the  home,  on 
the  farm,  in  the  shop  or  factory,  in  commercial 
establishments  or  in  professions  whose  services 
inure  to  increased  production,  there  would  be 

126 


The  Curriculum  and  Democracy 

throughout  society  an  appreciation  of  the  work- 
man's needs  and  life  which  would  make  for  sym- 
pathy and  the  square  deal.  If  the  sheltered 
classes  knew  from  actual  experience  how  slow 
and  painful  often  are  the  processes  of  produc- 
tion, would  there  not  be  a  new  spirit  in  the 
world?  Let  one  raise  even  one  cabbage,  he  will 
then  feel  like  paying  the  farmer  a  dollar  for  a 
head.  Think  of  the  human  experience  repre- 
sented in  the  package  of  codfish  which  the 
grocer  hands  over  the  counter  in  the  security 
of  the  village  store.  Men  risked  their  lives, 
with  women  and  children  waiting  on  the  shore, 
to  capture  that  codfish.  There  is  danger  lest  in 
the  opulence  of  modem  life  and  cities  the  funda- 
mentals of  production  be  lost  sight  of  and  whole- 
some sympathies  be  dulled.  It  is  often  noticed 
that  when  children  of  aristocratic  families  take 
industrial  work  in  school  they  undergo  a  change 
of  attitude.  We  can  hardly  expect  one  to  be 
democratic  in  sentiments  and  in  political  ex- 
pression if  unacquainted  with  the  conditions  of 
labour.  No  democracy  is  possible  without  com- 
mon acquaintance  with  production.  Every  pub- 
lic school  should  accordingly  teach  every  pupil 
a  reasonable  amount  of  productional  knowledge 
and  train  suitably  in  productional  processes. 
The  spirit  of  equality  is  engendered  from  ac- 

127 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

quaintance  with  the  fundamental  processes 
of  production.  Acquainted  with  labour,  the 
wealthy  on  the  one  hand  and  the  tramp  on  the 
other  tend  toward  democratic  citizenship. 

Not  alone  for  the  creation  of  democratic  senti- 
ment is  industrial  training  desirable  for  every 
child.  Production  raises  society  to  a  level  be- 
low which  democracy  starves  for  lack  of  ma- 
terial support.  The  most  progressive  classes 
and  nations  are  those  where  there  is  high  wealth 
production.  It  is  the  skilled  workman  in  Ger- 
many who  is  leading  the  way  to  better  condi- 
tions in  government.  The  producer  is  not  only 
likely  to  be  alert  in  social  relations,  but  it  is  the 
massing  of  wealth  from  his  labour  which  en- 
ables society  to  rise  above  the  philosophy  of 
serfdom.  The  slum  dweller  is  a  political  reac- 
tionary. Advanced  ideas  receive  little  welcome 
below  the  level  of  skilled  labour. 

Training  for  consumption  is  equally  neces- 
sary to  democracy,  and  it  is  in  the  school  that 
the  more  lasting  lessons  may  be  learned  as  to 
what  to  want  and  how  to  use.  If  the  child  from 
the  poverty-stricken  home  learns  what  art  and 
music  have  to  offer  for  human  happiness,  what 
recreation  and  hygiene  mean,  what  books  and 
travels  yield  for  the  expansion  of  life,  and  what 
the  amenities  of  life  are,  such  child  will  grow  up 

128 


The  Curriculum  and  Democracy 

with  redeeming  aspirations  not  to  be  quenched 
without  a  struggle  for  democratic  opportunity. 
The  school  may  be  a  nursery  of  acceptable 
wants.  But  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  cooking 
classes  aim  to  prepare  meals  on  seven  cents  a 
day  the  normal  ambition  for  a  full  meal  may  be 
distinctly  discouraged.  Let  us  say  it  frankly, 
our  children  should  be  taught  to  want  many 
things  beyond  their  reach.  They  should  be 
made  pungently  but  optimistically  discontented 
with  anything  short  of  a  generous  life.  Eesig- 
nation  and  contentment  with  little  are  not  vir- 
tues so  long  as  privations  are  due  to  social  mal- 
adjustments instead  of  the  limitations  of  na- 
ture. No  one  should  grumble  because  the  day 
is  hot,  but  he  has  a  right  to  protest  if  an  ice 
trust  doubles  the  price  of  ice  that  cools  the 
baby's  milk.  Democracy  requires  that  the  cur- 
riculum offer  a  proportionate  amount  of  infor- 
mation of  a  want-producing  type.  Let  there  be 
democracy  of  wants  and  democracy  of  satisfac- 
tion follows.  But  there  can  never  be  political 
or  economic  democracy  while  numbers  are  will- 
ing to  eat  stale  lunches  in  the  sun.  There  is 
enough  or  can  be  enough  wealth  in  the  world  to 
satisfy  every  reasonable  want.  It  does  not  re- 
quire a  large  amount  of  money  to  satisfy  every 
want  of  fairly  well-trained  consumers.     Elimi- 

129 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

nating  the  wastes  of  competitive  consumption 
and  the  so-called  conspicuous  consumption,  both 
phenomena  of  undemocratic  character,  the 
amount  of  wealth  required  per  person  in  a  civ- 
ilised country  for  the  satisfaction  of  wants 
would  be  easily  within  the  possibilities  of  pro- 
ductive forces.  Democracy  has  no  motive 
power  except  in  similarity  in  the  strength  and 
number  of  wants  among  different  classes. 

Economic  democracy  is  rapidly  being  substi- 
tuted in  popular  thought  for  theoretical  polit- 
ical democracy.  This  means  the  abolition  of  un- 
necessary extremes  of  possession.  The  pluto- 
crat and  the  pauper  are  alike  foreign  to  the  ideal 
of  economic  democracy.  A  more  equitable  dis- 
tribution of  wealth  is  the  desideratum.  The 
great  public  school  system,  then,  would  it  has- 
ten democracy,  needs  throw  its  forces  toward 
the  solution  of  the  problems  which  lie  in  the 
way  of  more  equitable  distribution.  Various 
studies  and  many  specific  topics  of  research  here 
suggest  themselves  in  connection  with  the  knowl- 
edge corresponding  to  wealth  distribution,  but 
whatever  specific  materials  of  instruction  are 
employed  the  net  result  should  be  an  under- 
standing of  the  forces  which  to-day  determine 
the  distribution  of  wealth  and  of  the  reasonable- 
ness of  remedies  proposed  for  ushering  in  eco- 

130 


The  Curriculum  and  Democracy 

nomic  democracy.  Assuredly  in  the  face  of  the 
greatest  problem  of  modern  cmlisation,  the 
distribution  of  wealth,  the  curriculum  as  one  of 
the  greatest  stores  of  information  should  con- 
tain a  large  amount  of  the  knowledge  of  distri- 
bution. 

Democracy  is  born,  partly  of  general  infor- 
mation, but  especially  of  knowledge  of  distribu- 
tion. This  is  the  critical  information  in  the 
reshaping  of  society  in  the  direction  of  equal 
rights.  The  new  democracy  of  the  United 
States  to-day  is  growing  up  fed  by  the  maga- 
zines which  reveal  a  hitherto  hidden  knowledge 
of  how  wealth  is  apportioned.  Things  have 
been  as  they  have  been  because  the  voter  **did 
not  know." 

Let  us  say,  then,  that  the  three  types  of 
knowledge  should  be  combined  in  the  curricu- 
lum. They  should  no  doubt  be  combined  in 
about  equal  proportions,  varying  somewhat  with 
the  previous  instruction  of  the  child,  especially 
that  received  at  home  and  from  his  associations. 
The  child  from  the  wealthy  home  would  require 
less  instruction  for  consumption  or  that  of  a 
different  character  from  that  of  greatest  profit 
to  the  child  from  the  tenements  or  the  farm. 
The  farm  boy,  while  especially  in  need  of  more 
exact  productional  information  than  he  has  re- 

131 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

ceived  on  the  farm,  is  especially  in  need  of  con- 
sumptional  guidance.  He  needs  to  be  taught 
recreation,  social  usage,  speech  and  admira- 
tions. The  children  of  the  lower  economic 
strata  need  lessons  in  citizenship  and  politics. 
Now  a  public  school  system  may  contain  all 
these  types  of  knowledge  and  yet  miss  the  point 
by  differentiating  pupils  among  the  types  of 
learning.  It  is  not  only  necessary  to  have  the 
various  knowledges  in  curricula,  but  it  is  es- 
sential for  democracy  that  the  three  types  be 
combined  in  the  education  of  every  child.  If 
one  school  offers  nothing  but  productional  in- 
formation and  training,  and  another  offers  pre- 
dominantly cultural  or  consumptional  training, 
and  still  another  is  identified  mainly  (which 
rarely  if  ever  happens  in  the  public  schools) 
with  distributional  knowledge,  you  have  an  edu- 
cational mechanism  from  which  infallibly  issue 
social  inequalities.  Trade  schools  are  very 
good.  They  are  needed.  The  rich  manufac- 
turer, on  the  lookout  for  labour,  and  the  poor 
man  favour  trade  schools.  Society  needs 
skilled  producers.  But  let  us  not  lose  sight  of 
the  fact  that  teaching  a  trade  is  but  a  part  of 
the  duty  of  education.  The  necessity  for  trade 
training  should  not,  by  design,  inadvertence  or 
faulty  pedagogy,  be  permitted  to  interfere  with 

132 


The  Curriculum  and  Democracy 

the  development  of  the  curriculum  into  perfect 
harmony  with  the  ideals  of  democracy. 

The  need  of  productional  specialisation  is  in- 
deed great,  but  much  training  to  that  end  may 
very  properly  bo  postponed  to  the  age  of  eight- 
een or  beyond — to  an  age  when  specialisation 
ceases  to  clash  with  the  best  interests  of  the  in- 
dividual and  society.  The  forcing  down  of 
specialisation  toward  the  early  years  of  life  is 
undesirable.  It  is  not  even  to  be  excused  be- 
cause ''the  boy  must  go  to  work,"  for  what  of 
our  civilisation  if  children  may  not  be  allowed 
to  stay  in  schools?  The  state,  which  provides 
education  for  all,  halts  in  an  illogical  position 
until  those  for  whom  education  is  provided  are 
enabled  to  accept  the  education  which  it  offers. 

Moreover,  are  we  not  hasty  in  admitting  the 
claims  of  productional  specialisation?  The  di- 
vision of  labour  has  proceeded  to  great  lengths. 
Can  it  go  much  furtlier?  Is  it  not  still  the  man 
of  general  intelligence  who  is  in  command?  A 
good  many  manufactured  articles,  produced 
under  minute  division  of  labour,  are  really  not 
very  necessary.  The  educator  should  not,  it 
would  seem,  feel  a  very  heavy  responsibilitj^  to 
hasten  the  industrial  maturation  of  the  boy  who 
will  assist  say  in  the  manufacture  of  giant  fire 
crackers  or  chewing  gum.    We  are  at  a  critical 

133 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

point  in  the  shaping  of  popular  education. 
Shall  we  recognise  social  inequalities  as  they 
exist  to-day  and  perpetuate  them  by  means  of 
unduly  ditferentiated  curricula  and  schools, 
attendance  upon  which  deflects  the  pupil  to- 
ward a  social  class?  Shall  education  yield  to 
undemocratic  tendencies  or  shall  it  on  the  other 
hand  correct  undesirable  inequalities  in  society 
by  bringing  to  bear  its  irresistible  pressure? 
Certain  it  is  that  education  has  it  in  its  power 
to  control  deeply  the  currents  of  civilisation. 
What  China  was  for  a  thousand  years  was  de- 
termined by  the  Chinese  classics  in  the  hands  of 
her  school  children.  The  Jew  has  been  nur- 
tured on  his  peculiar  literature.  The  stamp  of 
one's  learning  is  ineffaceable.  "Would  we  pro- 
mote democracy,  let  us  have  a  care  to  the  kinds 
of  information  used  in  public  schools.  There 
are  tests  to  be  applied  to  the  minutias  of  infor- 
mation, but  here  we  are  concerned  with  classes 
of  information.  It  is  vital  to  democracy  that 
the  pupil  be  supplied  with  ample  and  pertinent 
knowledge  fitting  him  for  the  fullest  contact 
with  society  in  the  great  relations  of  produc- 
tion, distribution  and  consumption. 


134 


XII 

Knowledge  Values 

There  is  an  instinct  and  a  passion  for  knowl- 
edge, which  shows  clearly  in  the  intense 
curiosity  of  children.  Human  nature  might  be 
graphically  represented  by  a  question  mark. 
This  instinct  for  knowledge  is  so  greedy  that 
rather  than  wait  for  tested  knowledge,  small 
in  quantity,  the  individual  will  often  satisfy 
the  craving  by  accumulating  a  large  bulk  of 
spurious  or  worthless  information.  The  false 
science  of  primitive  peoples,  their  cumbrous 
mythologies,  the  unconscionable  rubbish  of  the 
middle  ages,  and  the  abundant  pseudo  knowl- 
edge that  exists  to-day  are  evidences  of  the 
inherent  unpopularity  of  the  sentiment  ex- 
pressed by  Bill  Nye,  ''I'd  rather  be  ignorant 
than  know  so  darned  much  that  ain't  so."  The 
attitude  of  the  scientist,  that  of  suspended 
judgment  and  critical  evaluation  of  ideas, 
marks  a  high  level  in  race  or  individual. 

Before  entering  upon  an  examination  of  the 
values  of  knowledge  there  is  need  of  caution 

135 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

lest  mental  products  miscalled  knowledge  be 
confused  with  knowledge.  Of  philosophy 
President  Jordan  has  said:  ''Philosophy  is 
not  truth;  when  it  becomes  such  it  is  science." 
Knowledge  may  be  likened  to  money  some  of 
which  was  coined  in  ancient  times  and  some 
of  which  is  fresh  from  the  mint.  And  like 
coinage,  knowledge,  so-called,  may  embrace 
counterfeit  values.  Into  the  circulating  me- 
dium of  the  mental  world  have  been  injected 
large  issues  of  spurious  products.  These  con- 
sist of  dreams,  whims,  fancies,  random  impres- 
sions, unverified  opinion,  dubious  pronounce- 
ments, erratic  inferences,  preconceptions, 
prejudices,  faulty  history,  mythological,  super- 
sensational  and  intuitional  phantasms,  imper- 
fect observations  and  bizarre  doctrines. 

Knowledge  is  something  in  the  mind  that 
corresponds  to  reality.  It  is  the  product  of 
experience.  It  is  the  result  of  one's  direct  ex- 
perience with  the  world  or  the  direct  expe- 
rience of  others  which  is  annexed  by  processes 
of  learning  to  one's  experience. 

I  do  not  know  by  direct  experience  that 
Julius  Cassar  invaded  Britain.  That  is  a  fact 
that  is  incorporated  in  my  knowledge  from  the 
experience  of  witnesses.  We  have  direct  ex- 
perience with  relatively  few  of  the  facts  that 

136 


Knowledge  Values 

form  our  stock  of  knowledge,  but  all  facts  not 
of  our  direct  experience  have  been  gleaned 
by  the  direct  experience  of  others  of  our  own 
or  past  times.  All  knowledge  rests  back  upon 
the  operation  of  the  senses,  and  any  combina- 
tions of  ideas,  as  in  inventions,  whether  in  me- 
chanics, philosophy,  literature  or  mathematics, 
are,  if  real  knowledge,  verifiable  by  tests  of 
direct  experience.  Thinkers  and  inventors  by 
combining  ideas  gathered  from  their  own  and 
others'  direct  experience  create  what  may  be 
styled  anticipatory  knowledge,  that  is,  a  knowl- 
edge which  is  subsequently  verified  by  expe- 
rience. In  any  case,  however,  knowledge  to 
be  real  must  square  with  experience. 

The  most  compact  and  serviceable  knowl- 
edge is  that  which  consists  of  verified  princi- 
ples and  general  ideas.  The  billions  of  sep- 
arate experiences  of  individuals  with  reality 
are  amenable  to  classification  more  or  less 
complete.  The  uniformities  of  nature  permit 
the  formulation  of  general  principles.  We 
know  well  at  what  temperature  water  will  boil 
under  a  given  air  pressure.  The  specific  grav- 
ity of  gold  may  be  settled  once  for  all.  Stead- 
ily science  has  mastered  and  reduced  to  class 
the  multitudinous  phenomena  of  the  physical 
world.    In  the  world  of  life  and  growth,  espe- 

137 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

cially  in  dealing  with  the  most  complex  form 
of  life,  man,  the  perception  of  general  princi- 
ples and  the  discovery  of  unvarying  uniformity 
makes  slower  progress.  A  network  of  inter- 
twining laws  challenges  to  supreme  effort  in 
the  fields  of  sociology,  medicine,  psychology, 
and  education. 

The  welfare  of  society  demands  not  only  that 
the  curriculum  represent  the  fundamental 
classes  of  knowledge,  but  also  that  whatever  is 
taught,  the  facts  themselves,  should  be  of 
real  value.  The  relatively  worthless  should 
give  way  to  the  more  profitable.  If  knowledge 
exists  for  purposes  of  adjustment,  it  should  be 
possible  to  evaluate  facts  according  to  their 
actual  service  in  promoting  right  relations. 
The  schools  dispense  a  vast  amount  of  informa- 
tion. There  is  a  vast  amount  lying  outside  of 
the  curriculum.  Is  there  material  in  the  cur- 
riculum that  ought  to  come  out  and  is  there  ma- 
terial outside  the  curriculum  which  ought  to  go 
in?  By  what  are  we  to  be  guided  in  saying 
whether  a  piece  of  information  should  be  taught 
in  schools  ?  By  what  principles  may  knowledge 
now  in  the  curriculum  be  judged?  In  view  of 
the  past  of  education  it  seems  unwise  to  as- 
sume that  the  maximum  of  utility  is  repre- 
sented in  the  conventional  studies  or  that  a 

138 


Knowledge  Values 

gleaning  of  knowledge  from  non-scholastic 
sources  for  inclusion  in  the  curriculum  would 
not  be  a  profitable  undertaking.  How  may  we 
know  what  to  choose  and  what  to  reject? 

First  there  is  the  test  of  introspection. 
Wliat  are  the  situations  in  my  life  in  which  I 
need  knowledge?  Where  have  I  been  at  a  dis- 
advantage because  of  ignorance?  What  losses, 
failures,  blunders,  sufferings  and  omissions 
have  occurred  because  of  lack  of  information? 
In  view  of  the  large  area  of  life  which  humanity 
shares  in  common,  an  area  lying  outside  the 
pale  of  our  specialisations  and  vicissitudes,  we 
may  derive  the  values  of  knowledge  to  no  small 
extent  from  recollections  of  our  own  experience 
and  our  consciousness  of  limitations  and  cir- 
cumstances to-day.  It  should  not  be  necessary 
to  learn  the  more  valuable  lessons  of  life  by 
experience.     They  should  be  learned  in  schools. 

That  information  of  the  utmost  value  for  ad- 
justment lies  outside  of  the  curriculum  is 
shown,  for  example,  by  the  non-inclusion  of  that 
which  deals  with  sex  relations.  On  the  other 
hand,  when  reputable  persons  say  that  they  are 
not  aware  of  the  value  to  them  of  such  and  such 
subjects  which  they  pursued  in  school,  the  char- 
acter of  such  subjects  is  seriously  impeached. 
A  banker,  who  was  formerly  a  teacher,  ques- 

139 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

tions  the  value  of  the  ** objective  complement" 
and  similar  topics  in  grammar.  We  should  be 
impressed  with  such  comments.  Indeed,  and 
here  let  the  humility  of  educators  assert  it- 
self— is  it  not  for  the  man  outside  of  the 
schools  to  say  what  shall  be  taught?  At  least 
is  it  not  from  the  experiences  of  the  mul- 
titude that  the  educator  has  any  warrant  what- 
ever for  electing  this  or  that  bit  of  information 
for  impartation?  Possibly  the  criticism  of  the 
layman  would  not  be  a  safe  guide  to  educational 
reconstruction,  but  the  life  experiences  of  the 
layman  nevertheless  are  the  data  from  which 
the  schools  may  infer  what  to  teach.  Let  the 
information  by  which  one  thrives,  and  for  lack 
of  which  another  suffers,  in  body,  purse  or  re- 
pute be  panned  out  of  the  gravel  of  inert  mat- 
ter. In  this  process  the  testimony  of  mature 
persons  of  discrimination  should  be  given  much 
weight.  No  more  than  a  court  should  give  de- 
cisions without  taking  testimony,  should  the 
educator  decide  the  merits  of  information  with- 
out the  weighing  of  evidence. 

The  collecting  of  evidence  as  to  the  demon- 
strated value  of  curriculum  materials  should  be 
a  distinct  and  positive  activity.  Judicial  no- 
tice, so  to  speak,  has  already  been  taken  by 
progressive  teachers  of  what  is  going  on  in  the 

140 


X  Knowledge  Values 

world  abont  and  the  glacier  of  educational  in- 
heritance has  been  thawed  deeply  in  spots,  but 
for  the  further  den^elopment  of  education  it 
would  perhaps  be  a  wise  project  to  establish 
educational  commissions  for  the  taking  of  tes- 
timony relative  to  information  values,  calling 
as  witnesses  men  and  women  of  all  classes — 
physicians,  editors,  farmers,  cooks,  bookkeep- 
ers, invalids,  criminals  and  outcasts.  Guided 
by  such  evidence  curriculum  makers  would 
be  able  to  expunge  non-vital  information  and 
incorporate  in  courses  of  study  the  most 
important  items.  There  would  result  fewer 
cases  of  misfortune  from  ignorance.  Is  it 
not  begging  the  question  to  assume  that  the 
conventional  studies  contain  the  saving  knowl- 
edge? Are  there  not  many  studies  as  yet  un- 
organised but  representing  welfare  intensely? 
Instead  of  a  few  textbooks,  a  dozen  or  two  for 
a  high  school  course,  possibly  there  should  be 
a  hundred — of  varying  sizes. 

It  would  be  well  to  submit  school  books  to  the 
criticism  of  men  and  women  whose  experience 
has  peculiarly  qualified  them  for  appraising  the 
value  of  items  of  information  contained  therein. 
For  example,  the  banker  should  be  a  good  judge 
of  the  relevance  of  the  items  and  problems 
gathered  under  the  head  of  banking  in  arithme- 

141 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

tic.  The  physician,  who  deals  largely  with  the 
results  of  ignorance,  should  be  in  a  position  to 
advise  what  to  leave  out  and  what  to  include  in 
a  textbook  on  physiology  and  hygiene.  Were 
physicians  to  testify  in  regard  to  the  cur- 
riculum there  would  be  fewer  cases  where  the 
knowledge  to  live  by  is  omitted  in  favour  of  that 
which  perhaps  forms  a  part  of  a  logical  system 
but  which  may  not  bear  so  directly  upon  well 
being.  From  persons  who  have  failed  might 
be  drawn  suggestions  for  success. 

Assuming  a  curriculum  comprising  in  well- 
balanced  proportions  the  knowledge  underlying 
production,  consumption  and  distribution,  let 
us  note  any  principles  applying  to  the  choice  of 
particular  materials. 

Productional  knowledge  related  to  the  more 
important  industries  and  most  tending  to  an 
abundant  creation  of  wealth  is  evidently  a  de- 
sideratum. The  industries  the  most  funda- 
mental and  employing  the  largest  numbers 
would  accordingly  make  the  largest  demands 
for  expression  in  curriculum  form.  Of  such 
are  agriculture,  manufacturing,  mining,  trade 
and  transportation.  The  impossibility  of  fore- 
seeing accurately  at  an  early  age  what  occupa- 
tion the  child  will  pursue  suggests  the  wisdom 
of    scattering    throughout    the    entire    public 

142 


Knowledge  Values 

school  system  fundamental  knowledge  from  the 
primary  wealth -producing  occupations.  Even 
should  the  child  enter  secondary  industries  or 
professional  life  the  knowledge  of  the  arts  and 
industries  which  have  a  racial  and  economic 
priority  will  make  for  wider  sympathies  and  a 
sense  of  social  interdependence.  Misunder- 
standing and  class  antagonism  could  hardly 
exist  if  all  were  taught  in  the  schools  the  simple 
elementary  lessons  of  tilling  the  soil,  caring  for 
domestic  animals,  and  working  with  the  com- 
moner tools.  For  the  girl  an  acquaintance 
with  the  productive  work  of  the  home,  as  cook- 
ing, caring  for  the  sick,  making  clothes,  elimi- 
nating waste,  gardening,  repairing  and  making 
over  materials,  and  acquiring  domestic  arts 
would  be  indispensable.  The  fact  that  the  ma- 
jority of  women  contribute  to  production  as 
homekeepers  is  sufficient  warrant  for  teaching 
to  all  the  fundamentals  of  homekeeping  science. 
A  goodly  proportion  of  what  the  boy  and  girl 
learn  in  the  school  from  the  very  first  should 
consist  of  knowledge  assorted  from  the  basic 
wealth-producing  arts  and  industries,  and  none 
should  escape  this  instruction. 

With  inert  materials  cast  out  of  the  curri- 
culum the  amount  that  might  be  learned  about 
productional  processes  in  a  few  years  would  be 

143 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

found  surprisingly  large.  Every  one  might 
know  the  essentials  of  one  if  not  several  trades. 
The  productional  incapacity  of  most  persons  is 
due  to  not  having  been  taught.  How  long  would 
it  take  under  good  instruction  at  a  proper  age 
to  learn  the  plumber's  or  baker's  trade?  The 
existence  of  a  large  amount  of  unskilled  labour 
is  a  reproach  to  educational  efficiency.  Why 
should  not  every  one  be  a  skilled  worker,  or  at 
least  fundamentally  prepared  for  skilled  work? 
The  essentials  of  the  great  productive  indus- 
tries may  easily  be  supplied  to  all,  as  a  basis 
for  any  later  specialisation  and  as  a  remedy  for 
social  misunderstandings  and  class  aloofness. 
The  experience  of  thousands  is  that  their  in- 
struction in  school  veered  away  from  the  arts 
and  industries  and  left  the  learner  every  year 
a  little  further  away  from  the  employments  to 
which  the  prime  creation  of  wealth  is  due.  The 
possibility  of  teaching  a  large  quantity  of  pro- 
ductional knowledge  without  indifference  to 
other  desired  kinds  is  doubtless  but  slightly 
realised. 

In  administering  productional  knowledge  to 
younger  learners  the  insistence  of  the  factory 
for  skill  should  be  largely  disregarded.  Skill 
results  from,  knowledge  applied  to  a  process 
during  a  considerable  time.  To  train  highly 
144 


Knowledge  Values 

skilled  workmen  requires  a  length  of  time  not  at 
the  command  of  the  public  school  with  its  com- 
plex duties.  A  broad  productional  knowledge 
is  possible  in  the  schools,  the  impartation  of 
which  should  not  be  interfered  with  by  pro- 
longed attention  to  the  acquiring  of  skill. 

An  important  element  in  productional  knowl- 
edge is  that  having  to  do  with  natural  resources, 
wealth  resting  upon  natural  resources  and  hu- 
man effort.  The  right  attitude  toward  nature 
in  its  economic  aspects  leads  to  increased  pro- 
duction. The  wastes  of  fertility  by  erosion  and 
the  disposal  by  ordinary  methods  of  sewage, 
bearing  invaluable  phosphorus,  and  the  eco- 
nomic importance  of  birds  deserve  considera- 
tion. The  bounty  of  nature,  whether  of  forests, 
fish,  fur-bearing  animals,  coal  mines,  scenery, 
or  waters  available  for  irrigation,  dictates 
many  a  specific  lesson  making  for  the  con- 
tinued well-being  of  man. 

Inculcating  the  spirit  of  joyful  labour  would 
result  in  vastly  increased  production.  ^Vhile 
extreme  effort  is  made  in  a  limited  number  of 
industrial  situations  to-day  to  exploit  the  avail- 
able energy  of  workers,  dawdling  and  unhappy 
leisure  also  prevail.  Some  are  driven  to  the 
verge  of  exhaustion,  while  among  large  classes, 
as  the  children  of  well-to-do  parents  living  in 

145 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

cities,  women  of  the  prosperous  type,  and  men 
of  means  or  easy  professional  demands,  exist 
ennui  and  discontent  due  to  lack  of  plain  work. 
If  such  industries  as  poultry  raising,  garden- 
ing, farming,  stock  raising,  woodworking,  and 
other  employments  possible  at  or  near  home 
were  taught,  the  amount  of  energy  set  free  in 
wealth  creation  would  be  much  greater,  and 
many  a  bored  citizen  would  experience  the 
pleasure  that  comes  only  from  physical  expres- 
sion. The  cult  of  sports  and  games  entails  one 
of  the  greatest  losses  of  productive  energy. 
Barred  by  caste  considerations  from  employ- 
ments pursued  by  inefficient  distributees,  aristo- 
cratic classes  developed  expensive  and  time- 
consuming  sports.  While  games  and  sports 
have  peculiar  values  not  here  questioned,  can 
there  be  any  doubt  as  to  the  studied  irrelevance 
of  much  recreation  and  its  testimony  to  a  wrong 
attitude  toward  labour?  Knowledge  taught 
with  a  view  to  bringing  about  a  rational  atti- 
tude toward  taking  part  in  raising  things  and 
making  things  of  real  use  would  swell  the  total 
of  real  wealth  in  a  large  degree.  To  the  non- 
productive cult  of  sports  and  games  the  educa- 
tional system  has  yielded  too  ready  assent. 

In   a   word   the    schools    should   teach  how 
wealth  is  created,  from  what  created,  and  the 

146 


Knowledge  Values 

spirit  of  creation.  The  typical  tools  used  in  the 
various  major  industries  should  be  made  fa- 
miliar to  all  by  explanation  and  use.  The  evo- 
lution of  tools  and  instruments  suggests  an  im- 
portant chapter  in  such  instruction.  As  direct 
acquaintance  as  is  possible  should  be  sought 
with  the  characteristic  processes  in  agriculture 
and  in  the  manufacture  of  iron,  wood,  fibres, 
metals  and  materials  of  commonest  use.  The 
conditions  uniting  to  maintain  a  high  level  of 
production,  as  health,  cheerfulness,  aesthetic  ap- 
preciation and  productional  organisation,  re- 
quire special  attention.  Such  conditions  as 
paralyse  production,  as  indifference  and  ani- 
mosity toward  the  work  on  which  one  is  en- 
gaged, call  for  remedies  that  the  curriculum 
might  prescribe  in  its  studies  of  production. 

All  should  be  familiar  with  the  principal  ma- 
terials employed  in  manufacturing  processes, 
whatever  their  origin.  A  great  deal  of  ob- 
scurity rests  upon  materials  in  common  use  as 
meats,  paper,  spices,  gums,  metals,  foods, 
grains,  and  pottery.  Perhaps  the  industries  of 
one's  own  neighbourhood  are  understood,  but 
often  not  even  these.  The  industrial  worker 
may  not  even  have  a  vision  of  the  processes 
through  which  the  article  to  which  he  con- 
tributes a  part  passes,  and  his  vision  of  the 

147 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

origin  of  materials  is  often  unbelievably 
limited.  Despite  bulkiness  of  publications  and 
the  altitude  of  the  brick  walls  of  factories  and 
the  breadth  of  acres  comprising  farms,  there 
is  little  in  the  productional  system  which  may 
not  be  readily  apprehended  in  outline  and  serve 
as  a  basis  for  a  far  more  general  productional 
intelligence  than  prevails.  One  may  spend  a 
lifetime  in  thought  upon  improvements  of  the 
mowing  machine,  but  a  few  moments '  consider- 
ation suffices  to  inform  the  student  of  its  prin- 
ciples. 

The  school  may  wisely  attempt  to  inspire 
with  inventiveness,  resolution,  the  adventure 
sanctioned  by  civilisation,  and  the  spirit  of  per- 
sonal achievement  in  making  two  blades  grow 
in  place  of  one.  The  pride  of  large  production 
may  be  encouraged,  and  the  producer  be  made 
to  rise  in  the  social  scale  to  his  proper  level. 
The  suggestion  of  ideals  of  production,  taking 
the  place  of  anti-pro ductional  militarism  and 
commercial  exploitation,  makes  for  increase  in 
the  world's  wealth. 

A  general  survey  of  the  methods  of  produc- 
ing and  acquaintance  with  the  principles  apply- 
ing in  the  various  industries,  foreign  as  well  as 
local,  are  desirable  during  the  earlier  years  of 
one's  life  and  before  the  choice  of  an  employ- 

148 


Knowledge  Values 

ment  is  fixed.  Some  concession  may  be  made 
to  local  materials  and  processes,  but  the  impos- 
sibility of  wisely  determining  careers  by  the  ac- 
cident of  locality  of  birth,  or  childish  impres- 
sions, is  evident  to  every  one  who  remembers 
his  first  ambitions  as  to  a  life  occupation.  The 
inability  of  the  immature  to  decide  their  life  oc- 
cupations admitted,  the  foisting  upon  them  of 
premature  determination  of  vocation  is  to  be 
guarded  against.  Because  a  boy  is  born  in  a 
fishing  village  in  no  way  commits  him  to  smell 
mackerel  the  rest  of  his  days.  The  flow  of 
profits  to  an  industry  may  wisely  be  allowed  to 
determine  who  and  how  many  should  engage  in 
it. 

Whatever  facts  having  productional  value 
are  assembled  in  the  curriculum,  they  should 
be  referable  to  the  principle  of  maximal  use- 
fulness. In  determining  the  relative  utility  of 
productional  knowledge  the  experience  of  ex- 
pert observers  should  count  for  much.  If  many 
have  felt  the  need  of  certain  information  many 
times,  such  information  commends  itself  for  ad- 
mission to  the  curriculum.  By  interviewing 
producers,  and  the  unskilled  who  have  failed 
for  lack  of  specific  information,  it  should  be 
possible  to  construct  studies  having  a  maximum 
of  facts  promoting  the  welfare  of  the  would-be 

149 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

producer.  The  main  lines  of  industry  are  to  be 
sought  out,  and  the  most  common  and  indis- 
pensable products  noted.  The  forces  playing  a 
part  in  the  creation  of  the  volume  of  goods  are 
to  be  analysed  and  the  significant  fact  having 
value  as  a  guide  to  future  production  carefully 
retained.  Knowledge  which  lurks  in  the 
trades,  where  indeed  much  productional  knowl- 
edge has  developed  unnoticed  by  the  schools, 
should  yield  its  more  valuable  portions  for  the 
building  of  a  body  of  learning  for  general  im- 
partation.  What  knowledge  do  they  have  who 
are  skilful,  industrious,  employed!  What  do 
they  lack,  who,  rich  or  poor,  are  ignorant  of 
production,  consuming  without  adding  to  the 
world's  wealth?  The  inquirer  may  find  in 
the  workshop,  the  quarry,  the  factory,  and  on 
the  farm  typical  situations  calling  for  knowl- 
edge, and  from  such  situations  that  produc- 
tional knowledge  having  greatest  worth  may  be 
derived.  Ask  yourself  when  you  see  a  watch,  a 
garden,  an  engine,  a  gun,  a  pound  of  butter,  a 
sack  of  flour,  a  typewriter,  a  pencil,  a  can  of 
fruit,  a  picture  moulding,  a  wicker  chair,  a  tile 
floor,  a  nickel-plated  knob,  a  printed  page,  a 
piece  of  lead,  a  silk  tie,  or  a  button,  what  you 
know  about  making  these  things.  Ignorance 
points  to  defects  in  education  and  suggests  ad- 

150 


Knowledqe  Values 

ditions  to  the  course  of  study.  Notice  how 
many  times  a  day  you  find  yourself  in  need  of 
knowledge,  especially  if  you  start  out  to  make 
anything.  Perhaps  you  were  trained  to  use  but 
not  to  produce,  to  wear  but  not  to  shear  the 
fleece.  Were  it  not  for  the  knowledge  picked 
up  casually  outside  of  the  school,  the  student 
would  oftentimes  be  the  most  helpless  of  beings. 
Not  until  the  curriculum  pursued  during  the 
earlier  years  of  schooling,  to  confine  the  discus- 
sion to  the  period  ending  with  the  close  of  the 
high  school  course  or  thereabouts,  is  sufficiently 
based  on  the  productional  needs  of  the  indi- 
vidual and  society  can  it  be  defended  as  a  gen- 
erous preparation  for  life  or  merit  enthusiastic 
public  support. 

The  productional  aspect  of  the  work  of  the 
teacher,  physician,  lawyer,  statesman,  and  busi- 
ness man  should  not  be  overlooked,  but  more 
truly  discriminated.  Not  in  the  manipulation 
of  crude  materials  does  production  alone  exist. 
The  productivity  of  ideas  and  of  system  in 
carrying  on  business  demands  liberal  treatment 
in  a  curriculum  designed  to  maintain  or  in- 
crease wealth  production. 

Did  the  production  of  wealth  imply  its  dis- 
tribution in  proportion  to  one's  contributions 
to  the  wealth  total,  one's  knowledge  as  a  pro- 

151 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

ducer  would  also  suffice  for  him  as  consumer. 
But  tlie  fact  that  wealth  is  not  divided  upon  the 
basis  of  one's  contribution  to  its  production  is 
obvious.  There  accordingly  arises  a  need  for 
the  incorporation  in  the  curriculum  of  kinds  of 
knowledge  fitting  the  individual  to  make  sure 
of  his  share  of  the  wealth  total.  What  prin- 
ciples should  govern  in  the  selection  of  cur- 
riculum materials  designed  to  train  the  efficient 
distributee  ? 

Some  light  is  thrown  upon  this  question  by 
considering  the  knowledge  characteristic  of 
those  who  are  successful  takers  of  wealth  and 
the  knowledge  or  ignorance  of  others  who  share 
imperfectly  in  what  is  produced.  What  sort  of 
knowledge  is  it  which  enables  one  to  share 
freely  in  the  social  total  of  wealth  and  lacking 
which  another  receives  only  the  amount  re- 
quired for  crude  maintenance?  That  knowl- 
edge which  is  the  advantage  of  one  class  and 
whose  absence  is  a  primary  cause  of  the  eco- 
nomic disadvantage  of  other  classes  is  evidently 
such  as  curricula  formed  under  the  democratic 
ideal  should  include. 

The  intimate  relation  naturally  existing  be- 
tween one's  efficiency  as  maker  and  taker  is 
not  to  be  disregarded.  To  a  large  degree 
poverty  is  due  to  absence  of  production,  and 

152 


Knowledge  Values 

to  make  the  individual  a  larger  producer  is  to 
increase  his  receipt  of  wealth.  Unless  wealth 
is  created  there  can  be  none  to  apportion,  and 
even  under  a  faulty  distributional  system  the 
inefficient  distributee  is  bound  to  receive  more 
wealth  as  his  share  if  he  live  where  a  high 
level  of  production  prevails.  The  skilled 
labourer  requires  a  certain  amount  to  live  on  to 
maintain  his  productional  efficiency,  and  regard- 
less of  whether  or  not  he  knows  how  to  assert 
his  claim  to  income  he  is  sure  to  be  lifted  to  a 
standard  of  living  not  possible  in  communities 
where  a  low  level  of  production  obtains. 
Despite  such  considerations,  however,  the  ad- 
vantage of  special  distributional  information  is 
notorious.  The  inventor  may  not  rely  upon 
even  vast  contribution  to  wealth  to  insure  him 
income,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  riches  of 
ambiguous  promoters  may  rest  on  a  basis  of 
production  so  slight  as  to  be  negligible. 

The  peasant  and  sweatshop  operative  are 
notable  as  inefficient  distributees,  and  alike  rep- 
resent ignorance  of  certain  classes  of  facts. 
Their  indifference  to  civic  administration  and 
public  questions,  and  their  blind  adoption  of 
social  conventions,  tend  to  their  imdoing.  The 
Russian  peasant  goes  to  war  to  support  the  pri- 
vate business  deals  of  the  court  clique.     The 

153 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

sweatshop  worker  gives  his  vote  away  or  is 
jockeyed  out  of  it  by  specialists  in  politics.  In- 
difference to  acquiring  the  ballot  and  ignorance 
in  its  use  account  in  some  measure  for  meagre 
incomes.  Ignorance  of  law  and  government 
characterises  the  impoverished  classes  every- 
where. Such  knowledge  as  makes  for  intelli- 
gent voting  and  dispels  obscurity  as  to  the  true 
inwardness  of  political  manoeuvres  and  govern- 
mental policies  lies  at  the  threshold  of  dis- 
tributional equity. 

The  farmer  is  an  example  of  the  individual 
bound  by  custom  and  blind  to  the  operation  of 
distributional  laws.  Historically,  with  special 
exceptions,  the  farmer  has  been  ultra  conserva- 
tive in  regard  to  political  opportunity.  He  has 
voted  "straight"  and  accepted  policies  if  la- 
belled with  traditional  names.  His  economic  dis- 
advantage issues  from  political  lethargy,  which 
some  have  been  pleased  to  term  stability.  He 
has  looked  for  leadership  to  men  from  other 
callings,  and  has  uniformly  been  represented  in 
legislation  by  men  whose  first  obligations  were 
to  other  occupations  and  other  interests.  How 
complete  a  divorce  between  productional  ability 
and  civic  efficiency  may  exist  is  illustrated  in 
the  necessity  felt  by  the  labour  party  in  Austra- 
lia to  select  their  leaders  from  the  younger  men 

154 


Knowledge  Values 

in  the  professions,  whose  fidelity  might  be 
counted  on  and  whose  insight  into  government 
was  superior.  To  the  practice  of  securing 
such  leadership  the  labour  party  in  Australia 
owes  much  of  its  recent  success.  The  American 
farmer  has  lacked  in  civic  information  and  has 
been  unsuccessful  in  effectuating  a  real  repre- 
sentation of  his  interests  through  his  supposed 
representatives.  Such  knowledge  as  would 
qualify  the  farmer,  labourer  and  housewife  to 
mould  the  laws,  either  by  personal  attainment 
or  by  making  use  of  the  talents  of  others,  evi- 
dently should  be  liberally  supplied  as  parts  of 
an  ideal  curriculum  by  which  these  classes  are 
mentally  nourished. 

Knowledge  affording  an  historical  and  socio- 
logical approach  to  public  questions  is  of  high 
value.  With  advancing  civilisation  evolution 
must  supersede  revolution.  The  interlocking 
of  all  social  interests  makes  revolutionary 
change  destructive  and  puts  a  higher  value  upon 
constructive  measures  than  upon  blunt  demands 
and  drastic  revolts.  For  the  evolutionary  ap- 
proach to  civic  problems  related  to  distribution 
a  large  view  of  social  principles  and  economic 
history  is  demanded.  This  the  curriculum 
should  make  possible. 

The  prominence  of  organisation  in  affecting 
155 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

income  suggests  a  large  field  of  necessary  in- 
formation. The  competition  of  individual 
with  individual  has  increasingly  disappeared 
before  competition  of  group  with  individual,  a 
most  unequal  contest,  which  in  turn  must  yield 
to  competition  of  group  with  group.  The  in- 
dividual who  stands  unorganised  before  organi- 
sation suffers  exploitation  without  possibility 
of  successful  resistance.  His  salvation  depends 
upon  his  seeking  shelter  under  an  organisation 
with  others  in  like  status.  The  depredations 
of  the  trust  are  made  possible  by  the  unorgan- 
ised status  of  large  numbers,  who  might  by  spe- 
cial organisations,  or,  preferably,  by  engaging 
an  already  formed  organisation,  their  govern- 
ment, set  up  defences  against  monopoly  profits, 
extortionate  charges,  and  the  seizing  of  nat- 
ural resources. 

"What  organisation  is,  how  effected,  its  rela- 
tion to  existing  laws,  its  evolution,  the  testi- 
mony of  other  countries  with  reference  to  the 
evils,  benefits  and  control  of  organisations,  and 
the  special  information  involved  in  advancing 
desirable  and  checking  undesirable  organisa- 
tions must  enter  into  the  public  consciousness 
far  more  than  heretofore  if  the  extremes  of 
wealth  and  poverty  which  are  mounting  up 
under  modem  conditions  are  to  be  replaced  by 

156 


Knowledge  Values 

such  diffusion  of  wealth  as  makes  for  general 
welfare.  Drill  in  organising  meetings,  putting 
questions  and  appointing  committees  should  be 
among  the  exercises  of  all  public  schools.  Any- 
thing like  economic  parity  is  impossible  as  long 
as  the  knowledge  peculiar  to  organisation  is  a 
sealed  book  to  large  numbers. 

Of  special  importance  is  the  knowledge  which 
reveals  how  government  may  go  astray.  The 
problem  of  graft  has  engaged  the  best  energies 
of  special  students.  Able  writers  have  visited 
the  very  laboratories  of  graft  and,  so  to  speak, 
microscopically  examined  graft  cultures.  Yet 
the  difficulty  of  learning  the  devious  ways  of 
graft  has  been  so  great,  notwithstanding  the 
simplicity  of  the  subject  to  the  initiated,  that 
the  general  public  is  still  in  the  kindergarten 
class  with  reference  to  fulness  of  knowledge 
about  this  most  important  subject.  The  cur- 
riculum should  certainly  contain  the  most  sig- 
nificant facts  that  have  been  established  on  the 
subject  of  the  relation  of  private  interests  to 
city,  state  and  national  government  and  fairly 
show  the  typical  ways  in  which  dishonest  or 
overtempted  men  betray  the  public.  Let  graft, 
as  a  preventive  study,  by  all  means  find  a  place 
in  the  ci\dc  instruction  imparted  in  the  schools, 
care  being  taken  lest  the  cunning  of  grafters 

157 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

be  an  ideal  rather  than  an  object  of  aversion. 

Knowledge  should  be  laid  bare  to  the  public, 
through  the  curriculum,  touching  the  operation 
of  laws  that  have  much  to  do  with  perpetuating 
or  creating  miscarriage  in  distribution.  The 
tariff,  under  which  many  believe  the  swollen 
fortunes  of  some  and  the  anemic  fortunes  of 
others  have  been  determined,  requires  illumina- 
tion with  the  aim  of  general  welfare  in  view. 
Untested  tariif  theory  and  ex  parte  legislation 
should  give  way  to  intelligence  on  so  important 
a  matter.  The  confessed  ignorance  of  a  large 
part  of  the  public  on  such  a  matter  as  the  tariff 
argues  how  destitute  of  vital  distributional  in- 
formation much  of  the  teaching  of  the  past 
generation  has  been.  Such  ignorance  is  prima 
facie  evidence  of  serious  omissions  in  a  course 
of  study  in  public  schools  designed  among  other 
aims  to  help  the  citizen  to  suitable  adjustment 
in  his  economic  relations. 

The  enormous  power  of  systems  of  taxation 
to  throw  wealth  to  and  from  distributees  must 
be  reckoned  with  in  compiling  that  information 
which  makes  for  intelligent  citizenship.  And 
upon  this  subject  popular  ignorance  is  notori- 
ous. Were  the  subject  of  taxation  as  well 
understood  generally  as  the  military  strategy 

158 


Knowledge  Values 

of  the  American  revolution,  a  system  of  assess- 
ment that  persecutes  two  hundred  dollar  pianos 
and  is  indifferent  to  millions  in  stocks  and 
bonds  would  ere  this  have  been  materially  modi- 
fied. Wherever  law  or  custom  affects  income, 
there  exists  a  node  around  which  educational 
subject  matter  should  be  organised. 

Far  too  little  light  is  shed  by  the  educational 
system  upon  the  transmission  of  wealth  by  in- 
heritance. So  uncritical  is  the  popular  atti- 
tude with  regard  to  the  subject  of  inheritance 
that  grave  injury  is  often  suffered  without  com- 
plaint. The  right  to  transmit  property  is  a 
purely  legal  invention,  resting  upon  social  ap- 
proval. The  decedent  by  the  fact  of  his  death 
loses  physical  control  of  his  goods.  Such 
rights  as  exist  with  reference  to  their  disposal 
thereafter  are  conceded  by  society.  It  accord- 
ingly implies  a  non-alertness  among  the  public 
when  legacies  are  passed  irrespective  of  the  in- 
terests of  the  public  as  occurs  when  vast 
amounts  of  socially  created  wealth  descend  by 
will — of  the  individual.  The  critical  relation 
of  the  laws  of  inheritance  to  married  women 
should  itself  make  imperative  a  far  greater  il- 
lumination of  the  general  subject  than  is  com- 
mon.    Much  of  the  knowledge,  which  attorneys 

159 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

and  probate  judges  mainly  possess,  on  the  de- 
scent of  property  should  be  a  common  posses- 
sion. 

The  possibilities  of  wealth  arising  from  in- 
terest-taking appeal  more  especially  to  the  in- 
itiated. The  relation  to  individual  welfare  of 
military  expenses,  necessitating  the  issuance 
of  national  bonds  on  which  the  citizen  and  his 
descendants  will  pay  charges,  deserves  more  at- 
tention than  it  receives.  The  almost  limitless 
power  of  capital  over  states,  municipalities,  and 
nations,  through  loans  representing  a  mortgage 
on  the  future  production  of  society,  would  if 
more  graphically  appreciated,  militate  against 
extravagant  expenditures.  Indeed  the  poorer 
the  individual  is  the  more  is  his  need,  ap- 
parently, of  schooling  in  interest.  The  usuri- 
ous loan  office  exploits  the  ignorance  which  pre- 
vails among  the  needy  as  to  the  significance  of 
interest. 

The  rule  which  should  prevail  governing  the 
choice  of  distributional  subject  matter  for  the 
curriculum  is  that  of  consulting  the  points  of 
distributional  maladjustment  in  society  and 
formulating  knowledge  specifically  designed  to 
effect  improvement.  The  essential  fact  is  to 
be  sought  which  gives  exploitative  power  to  the 
large  taker  of  wealth,  and  ignorance  of  which 

160 


Knowledge  Values 

lames  the  inefficient  distributee.  If  two  men 
produce  an  equal  amount  of  wealth,  and  one 
grows  rich  and  another  poor,  let  the  knowledge 
functioning  to  produce  the  disparity  be  sought 
out  and  thrown  into  the  stream  of  common  in- 
formation. If  the  lawyer's  office  or  the  lobby  of 
the  capitol  holds  secrets  inuring  to  the  hardship 
of  the  average  citizen  and  giving  the  insider 
unconscionable  advantage,  let  such  knowledge 
be  disseminated.  Occupational  knowledge,  so 
far  as  it  is  distributional  in  character, 
should  be  a  common  mental  content,  that 
greater  fairness  may  exist  in  the  relations  of  all 
toward  the  wealth  total. 

The  curriculum  should  open  to  receive  infor- 
mation not  now  included,  knowledge  which  in 
some  cases  needs  be  dug  out  of  its  matrix  in 
quasi  predatory  occupations.  Such  informa- 
tion as  tends  to  place  equal  producers  of  wealth 
on  a  parity  as  distributees  and  correct  the 
anomalies  which  are  everywhere  attracting  the 
attention  of  thinking  men  is  highly  desirable. 
The  curriculum  of  the  more  common  schools  is 
notably  lean  in  information  vital  to  distribu- 
tees. And  indeed  what  little  appears  under  the 
term  civics  or  political  science  is  often  a  mere 
formalism  affording  little  real  insight.  Of  the 
two  governments,  that  on  paper  and  that  of 

161 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

reality,  knowledge  of  the  latter  is  for  practical 
purposes  quite  superior. 

In  the  choice  of  subject  matter  whose  pur- 
pose is  adjustment  to  ideal  standards  of  living, 
principles  are  to  be  observed  which  rest  on  the 
most  usual  needs  of  consumption.  Such  knowl- 
edge as  is  commonly  employed  in  the  culture  of 
the  refined  and  discriminating  commends  itself. 
Models  of  living  based  on  wise  and  worthy  char- 
acters form  no  small  part  of  desired  culture. 
Considering  the  limits  which  must  always  pre- 
vail with  reference  to  the  wealth  the  individual 
may  employ  for  the  gratification  of  his  wants, 
the  economical  expenditure  of  money  and  the 
avoidance  of  waste  in  the  use  of  materials  are 
especially  important.  The  opening  of  the 
gates  to  larger  consumption  by  social  owner- 
ship, as  of  parks,  art  galleries,  books  and  facili- 
ties for  travel  indefinitely  expands  the  possi- 
bilities of  consumption. 

As  a  basis  of  well-being  health  deserves  spe- 
cial emphasis.  Both  ideals  of  physical  perfec- 
tion and  specific  information  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  health  and  for  longevity  are  required. 
All  enjoyment  of  wealth  miscarries  in  the  ab- 
sence of  physical  integrity. 

Eelated  to  hygienic  knowledge  is  that  which 
inspirits    life    by    recreation    and    diversion. 

162 


Knotvledg^e  Values 

Those  who  do  not  know  how  to  play  and  who 
fall  victims  to  too  great  intensity  and  concen- 
tration in  business  suggest  a  wider  diffusion  of 
knowledge  tending  to  increase  the  joys  of  life. 
Many  who  are  the  most  laborious,  and  who  be- 
cause of  their  services  as  producers  would  es- 
pecially seem  to  merit  relaxation,  are  untutored 
in  diversion  and  spend  monotonous  lives.  The 
spirit  of  play,  rightly  directed,  is  an  important 
element  in  the  training  of  efficient  consumers. 

Art,  poetry,  music,  travel  and  social  situa- 
tions of  aesthetic  tone,  are  identified  with  the 
higher  uses  of  wealth.  It  is  unfair  to  deprive 
the  learner  of  such  introductory  knowledge  of 
the  higher  goods  as  will  ena])le  him  to  find  sol- 
ace in  literature  and  artistic  creations.  The 
blacksmith  who  can  read  with  appreciation  and 
see  with  feeling  is  a  type  which  more  evenly 
balanced  curricula  should  make  more  com- 
mon. Shakespeare  is  a  part  of  an  ideal  equip- 
ment of  knowledge  as  well  as  how  to  count. 
The  indictment  against  polite  learning  is  not 
that  it  is  in  itself  not  related  to  welfare,  but 
that  the  schools  too  often  have  in  emphasis 
upon  it  fallen  short  of  fitting  for  the  various 
other  demands  of  environment.  Emphasis  has 
been  placed  upon  partly  irrelevant  culture  and 
some  of  the  basic  knowledge  required  for  rais- 

163 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

ing  standards  of  living  among  all  classes  has 
received  too  little  attention. 

Eelevant  consumptional  knowledge  is  of  su- 
perior importance  inasmuch  as  the  processes  of 
production  and  distribution  culminate  in  the 
use  of  goods.  To  produce  and  share  is  merely 
a  step  toward  the  application  of  what  is  pro- 
duced to  the  various  needs  of  the  user  of  com- 
modities. It  is  only  unwise  or  excessive  con- 
sumptional or  cultural  training  which  may 
merit  criticism. 

It  may  be  objected  that  the  enjoyments  of 
life  are  far  broader  than  implied  in  the  con- 
sumption of  manufactured  articles  and  goods 
having  commercial  value  and  that  the  higher 
values  are  those  to  which  economic  terms  do  not 
apply.  For  example,  friendship  is  not  bought 
or  sold.  But  even  the  higher  values  appear  in 
association  with  leisure,  health  and  a  pros- 
perity resting  upon  wealth  accumulation,  and  a 
liberal  use  of  the  word  consumption  may  be 
permitted  to  include  the  amenities  and  rela- 
tionships which  thrive  best  where  wealth 
abounds  and  in  social  strata  inheriting  the  cul- 
ture which  formerly  acquired  wealth  made  pos- 
sible. 

Under-education  for  consumption  is  revealed 
in  low  standards  of  popular  music,  shapeless 

164 


Knowledge  Values 

architecture,  ill-kept  homes  and  streets,  unjusti- 
fiable fashions  and  sensationalism  in  literature 
and  manners.  Great  areas  of  life  exist,  as  in 
the  slums,  where  there  is  lack  of  knowledge  as 
to  how  to  make  good  use  of  what  little  wealth 
is  at  hand.  Intemperance,  vice,  gluttony,  the 
unwise  use  of  patent  medicines,  crass  be- 
haviour, and  psychical  deafness  to  the  higher 
notes  in  human  life,  wherever  displayed,  show 
the  need  of  instruction  in  the  consumptional  re- 
lation. Barbaric  display  and  the  unrestrained 
expenditure  of  money  for  caprice  and  emula- 
tion and  the  erosion  of  wealth  through  so-called 
high  life  indicate  that  not  alone  in  slums  and 
hovels  is  revealed  the  prevalence  of  faulty  con^ 
sumption. 

How  inadequate  the  culture  which  leaves  the 
multitude  lacking  in  essentials  of  rational  cul- 
ture may  be  inferred.  A  conventionalised  cul- 
ture, with  over-attention  to  the  more  excep- 
tional social  situations,  has  failed  to  give  the 
help  to  the  ordinary  consumer  which  it  should 
be  the  aim  of  the  school  to  provide.  Foreign 
language,  with  its  insinuation  of  ample  means 
to  meet  the  expenses  of  travel  and  leisure  for 
social  intercourse  in  distant  capitals,  exotic 
art  pursued  as  introductory  to  seeing  originals 
in  European  galleries,  and  ideals  of  sport  de- 

165 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

veloped  in  the  leisure  class  par  excellence  of 
England  have  figured  in  cultural  training  often 
to  the  neglect  of  instruction  making  for  wise  ex- 
penditures and  simple  enjoyments  among  the 
ninety  and  nine  who  have  but  a  few  dollars  to 
spend. 

As  deeply  affecting  the  circumstances  under 
which  happiness  is  attained,  moral  training  be- 
comes of  imperative  value  in  the  school.  The 
present  lack  of  definiteness  in  moral  aims,  re- 
sulting from  the  collision  of  evolution  and  stat- 
icism,  of  a  moral  code  derived  from  the  theory 
of  present  adjustment  and  of  one  of  tradition, 
should  not  long  militate  against  efficient  moral 
instruction.  By  consulting  the  maladjust- 
ments from  which  one  suffers  and  which  are 
traceable  to  the  volition  of  others,  it  becomes 
merely  a  matter  of  inquiry  and  scholarship  to 
set  up  a  moral  code  fairly  comprehensive.  A 
code  so  derived  must  necessarily  be  one  of  de- 
tail, and  while  built  on  long  recognised  moral 
aphorisms  will  surpass  traditional  codes  in  ful- 
ness of  specifications.  So  much  of  moral  con- 
duct is  habit  rather  than  the  conscious  recogni- 
tion of  principles,  that  moral  instruction  which 
does  not  particularise  is  but  slightly  efficient. 
The  learner  must  know  that  this,  that  and  the 
other  particular  act  lead  to  specific  injuries. 

166 


Knowledge  Values 

WMle  uniting  on  the  same  general  moral  prin- 
ciples men  make  war  for  or  against  human 
slavery  or  cut  one  another's  throats  for  the 
good  of  a  cause  theoretically  common.  The 
value  of  general  principles  as  incomparably 
useful  knowledge  in  many  of  the  relations  of 
life  yields  to  the  superior  value  of  specific 
habits  in  the  moral  sphere.  The  general  prin- 
ciple in  physics  will  be  applied  by  the  carpenter 
if  he  remembers  it,  but  to  insure  the  applica- 
tion of  a  moral  principle,  with  personal  ad- 
vantage surging  contrariwise,  the  principle 
must  be  imbedded  in  a  moral  habit  having  in 
itself  strong  compulsion. 


167 


SoMB  Places  Where  Knowledge  Is 
Needed 

Partioulaely  on  tlie  side  of  the  relations  of  the 
citizen  to  government  is  there  need  of  instruc- 
tion. A  large  number  of  the  political  evils  of 
the  day  flow  directly  from  torpor  and  lack  of 
vision  on  the  part  of  the  average  citizen.  The 
ignorance  of  the  voter  is  the  opportunity  of 
the  grafter.  When  it  is  still  doubted  if  the 
voter  is  sufficiently  informed  to  warrant  direct 
legislation  and  truly  democratic  government,  as 
opposed  to  the  delegation  of  governing  power 
to  legislative  or  representative  bodies,  there  can 
be  no  question  as  to  the  imperfect  civic  knowl- 
edge of  large  numbers  of  the  electorate. 

Current  history  teems  with  evidences  of  the 
need  of  a  more  thoroughgoing  training  for  citi- 
zenship than  the  world  as  yet  knows.  Society 
cannot  safely  permit  small  groups  to  be  the 
only  possessors  of  the  special  knowledge  of 
government.  Democracy  implies  that  every 
citizen  be  something  of  an  expert  in  govern- 

168 


Some  Places  Where  Knowledge  is  Needed 

ment,  certainly  to  the  extent  of  discretion  re- 
garding public  questions. 

The  multiplication  of  offices  and  boards  ne- 
cessitates more  than  casual  preparation  along 
legal  lines.  To  be  an  intelligent  client  requires 
more  knowledge  of  law  than  the  schools  as  yet 
equip  the  graduate  with. 

The  universal  tendency  to  conduct  business 
in  corporate  organisations  calls  for  a  wider 
knowledge  of  corporation  law.  References  to 
the  organisation  of  new  corporations  for  busi- 
ness, banking,  religious  and  other  purposes 
abound.  Real  estate  transfers  imply  an  exten- 
sive law.  The  increase  in  the  number  of  public 
offices  and  the  fair  probability  that  the  citizen 
will  be  asked  to  serve  in  some  public  capacity 
suggest  the  wisdom  of  more  widely  diffused  in- 
formation relative  to  public  office,  and  espe- 
cially acquaintance  with  the  highest  ideals  of 
office  holding,  with  no  small  attention  to  notable 
cases,  ancient  and  modern,  of  exemplary  serv- 
ice rendered  the  public  by  office  holders. 

Not  less  than  the  office  holder  does  the  voter 
need  a  preparation  rarely  afforded.  It  com- 
monly occurs  that  the  leading  name  on  a  ticket 
receives  many  more  votes  than  candidates  for 
other  offices.  Lack  of  interest  is  usually  asso- 
ciated with  lack  of  knowledge.    Agencies  have 

169 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

yet  to  be  created  that  will  provide  the  voter  an 
adequate  supply  of  actual  information  regard- 
ing candidates  and  measures.  The  extent  of 
genuinely  enlightened  voting  in  a  popular  elec- 
tion can  be  only  estimated,  but  it  is  likely  that 
blind  and  ignorant  voting  prevails  to  a  degree 
that  should  cause  the  greatest  concern  in  view 
of  the  tendency  to  transfer  law  making  from 
so-called  representative  bodies  to  the  people. 

When  in  various  state  elections  only  60  or  70 
per  cent,  of  the  total  vote  is  polled  it  is  evidence 
that  there  is  indifference  based  on  lack  of  un- 
derstanding issues  and  candidates.  Even  in 
the  most  uneventful  village  campaign  it  is  prob- 
able that  there  are  dormant  issues  which  if  ex- 
ploited would  mean  much  to  the  community. 
Indifference,  whether  among  the  undeveloped 
and  thoughtless  or  among  the  educated,  implies 
ignorance  of  civic  possibilities. 

Education  in  government  would  presumably 
do  away  with  bribery.  The  informed  voter 
realises  that  the  advantage  to  the  state,  which 
is  his  advantage  concurrently,  accruing  from 
the  best  possible  use  of  his  ballot  far  outweighs 
in  value  the  market  price  of  ballots  in  his  com- 
munity. Accordingly  no  price  that  may  be  of- 
fered will  tempt  the  voter  of  enlightenment  and 
imagination.    Lacking  knowledge  to  evaluate 

170 


Some  Places  Where  Knowledge  is  Needed 

the  ballot,  the  voter  is  a  willing  victim  to  gift 
cigars,  political  beer  keg  parties,  and  passes  and 
franks  distributed  by  corporations. 

It  has  been  thought  that  the  rural  voter  was 
largely  immune  to  bribery.  That  the  rural 
voter  has,  in  this  respect,  been  idealised  is  sup- 
ported by  such  revelations  as  those  of  Adams 
County,  Ohio,  in  which  county  nearly  2,000  in- 
dictments were  returned  for  the  sale  of  votes 
in  the  election  of  1910,  and  about  the  same  num- 
ber of  convictions  had,  one-third  of  the  total 
voting  population  of  the  county  being  disfran- 
chised and  otherwise  penalised.  Such  condi- 
tions prevailing  in  an  agricultural  county  of  a 
State  which  as  properly  as  Virginia  might 
be  called  the  "mother  of  presidents,"  and  sim- 
ilar conditions  being  believed  to  exist  in  coun- 
ties in  northern  Ohio  popularly  known  as 
** boodle  counties,"  and  in  other  States,  the  im- 
provability  of  the  country  voter  seems  evident. 

To  a  large  extent  popular  ignorance  of  law 
might  and  should  be  remedied.  At  least  a 
bird's-eye  view  of  the  field  of  law  might  be  had 
and  an  acquaintance  with  the  central  ideas  and 
the  great  landmarks  be  gained.  Though  it  is 
said  that  the  man  who  is  his  own  lawyer  has  a 
fool  for  a  client,  a  general  knowledge  of  the 
main  legal  doctrines,  and  especially  a  knowl- 

171 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

edge  of  the  historical  background  of  decisions 
and  rules  is  desirable.  The  law  itself  would 
profit  from  having  its  mysteries  exposed  to 
Philistine  gaze  and  any  irrationalities  treated 
lightly.  Largeness  of  view  quite  often  de- 
velops outside  a  science  or  occupation  and  re- 
form movements  are  begun  that  would  not 
originate  among  those  most  intimately  con- 
cerned. The  tendency  in  various  sciences  is  to 
simplify  phraseology  and  select  the  fundamen- 
tals for  diffusion  throughout  society.  In  many 
fields  class  knowledge  is  being  freed  and  voca- 
tional secrets  exposed.  There  is  as  much  need 
of  legal  extension  as  of  agricultural  extension 
or  college  extension  in  any  line. 

The  need  of  popular  knowledge  of  law  is  seen 
in  unwise  litigation,  unconsciousness  of  legal 
rights  and  remedies,  confusion  with  reference 
to  legislation,  and  expensive  mistakes.  Igno- 
rance is  always  expensive,  but  in  law  partic- 
ularly so. 


The  interrelation  of  ignorance,  intemperance 
and  crime  is  forcibly  put  by  Warden  Wolfer 
of  the  Minnesota  state  prison  at  Stillwater,  who 
says:  *' Ignorance,  or  lack  of  education,  and 
intemperance  travel  hand  in  hand.  It  is  my 
belief,  based  upon  38  years'  prison  experience, 

172 


Some  Places  Where  Knowledge  is  Needed 

that  ignorance  and  intemperance  are  the  di- 
rect cause  of  at  least  80  per  cent,  of  all  crimes 
committed." 

The  cost  of  crime  is  so  enormous  that  it 
would  seem  a  step  of  the  greatest  economy  for 
additional  educational  expenditures  to  be  made 
with  a  view  to  decreasing  the  expense  of  it. 
The  State  of  Iowa  expends  as  much  upon  the 
penal  and  charitable  institutions  of  the  State 
as  is  spent  upon  all  the  state  institutions  of 
learning  within  its  borders.  If  educational  ef- 
fort were  focussed  upon  crime  prevention,  the 
saving  in  the  expense  for  crime  would  no 
doubt  pay  many  times  for  the  special  instruc- 
tion. 

The  vast  cost  of  crime  is  inferable  from  num- 
berless references  in  the  press  to  criminal  in- 
terference with  life  and  property,  to  court  and 
jail  expenses,  and  to  poUce  and  other  forms  of 
protection  requiring  heavy  outlays  of  money. 
A  statement  of  the  cost  of  crime  is  quoted : 

''Crime  costs  the  United  States  $100,000  an 
hour. 

The  yearly  cost  of  crime  in  America  is  esti- 
mated at  $1,373,000,000. 

If  crime  could  be  checked  absolutely  for  eight 
months  the  savings  would  pay  the  national 
debt,  $964,000,000. 

173 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

The  annual  imports  of  the  nation  are  $100,- 
000,000  less  in  value  than  the  cost  of  its  crime. 

American  gold  mines  yield  less  than  half  the 
nation's  annual  crime  expense. 

The  market  value  of  all  the  horses,  sheep  and 
cattle  in  the  country  is  about  the  same  as  the 
annual  crime  bill. 

The  coal,  wheat  and  wool  produced  annually 
in  this  country  represent  a  value  about  the 
same  as  the  annual  cost  of  crime." 

More  practical  moral  instruction  reaching 
every  child  seems  to  be  called  for.  Were  the 
nature  and  results  of  trouble-creating  acts  made 
known  in  ways  pedagogically  effective,  a  large 
percentage  of  juvenile  delinquency,  due  in  large 
part  to  ignorance  and  inexperience,  would  be 
avoided.  There  is  need  of  a  rational,  workable 
system  of  ethics  and  of  expert  methods  of 
moral  teaching. 

The  improvement  of  standards,  resulting  in 
decrease  of  crime,  better  ideals,  more  rational 
ways  and  larger  happiness,  is  surely  one  of 
the  major  duties  of  education.  This  duty  can 
be  performed  successfully  only  when  a  careful 
inventory  of  ethical  and  cultural  lapses  is  made 
and  specific  instruction  devised  against  such 
maladjustments. 

174 


Some  Places  Where  Knowledge  is  Needed 

The  losses  and  sufferings  due  to  preventable 
ill  health  tax  the  imagination.  A  large  part  of 
the  country  population  and  the  city  population 
as  well  suffer  from  unnecessary  ill  health. 
Good  health  is  an  important  factor  in  the  pro- 
duction of  wealth,  let  alone  the  satisfaction  of 
good  health  to  the  individual  in  his  life  as  a 
consumer.  The  need  of  knowledge  along  health 
lines  is  "wddely  attested.  Nowhere  does  igno- 
rance exact  heavier  penalties. 

1,500,000  persons  die  in  the  United  States 
every  year,  many  of  the  deaths  being  prevent- 
able. It  is  estimated,  no  doubt  too  conserva- 
tively, that  for  every  death  there  are  two 
additional  persons  sick,  a  total  of  3,000,000  sick. 
The  greater  part  of  the  sickness  is  preventable. 
Inasmuch  as  well  taken  care  of  persons  are  al- 
most never  sick,  it  is  probable  that  95%  of  all 
sickness  could  readily  be  prevented.  Esti- 
mates of  the  economic  losses  each  year  in  the 
United  States  due  to  sickness  range  from 
$1,500,000,000  to  $3,000,000,000.  If  by  far  the 
greater  part  of  sickness  could  be  prevented, 
there  would  seem  to  be  no  more  profitable  un- 
dertaking than  the  promotion  of  health,  and 
no  form  of  knowledge  more  urgently  needed 
in  curricula  than  effective  hygienic  science. 

175 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

Tuberculosis  might  be  made  as  rare  as  small- 
pox, but  on  the  other  hand  the  death  rate  is 
high  from  the  disease,  being  183.6  per  100,000 
in  1907.  500,000  persons  in  the  United  States 
are  suffering  from  tuberculosis.  One-seventh 
of  all  deaths  are  due  to  it.  The  economic  loss 
in  the  United  States  in  1909  from  tuberculosis 
is  estimated  at  almost  50%  above  the  value  of 
the  wheat  crop  of  the  country. 

In  1908  there  were  35,000  deaths  from  typhoid 
fever  and  350,000  cases  in  the  United  States. 
Local  sanitation,  it  is  said,  would  have  pre- 
vented 75%  of  the  cases,  while  sanitation  for 
the  country  at  large  would  have  prevented  most 
of  the  remaining  cases.  Whole  families  in  the 
country  are  often  almost  exterminated  by  ty- 
phoid fever  developed  from  infected  wells  and 
unsanitary  surroundings. 

Typhoid  has  been  nearly  eliminated  in  com- 
munities where  intelligent  precautions  have 
been  taken.  The  results  of  education  appear 
at  once  in  decrease  of  the  death  rate  from  this 
disease.  About  80%  of  the  cases  of  typhoid 
develop  from  drinking  impure  water,  a  cause 
easily  removed  by  simple  scientific  methods. 

Pneumonia  causes  a  high  death  rate,  in  some 
cities  one-sixth  of  the  number  of  deaths.  Meth- 
ods of  prevention,  similar  to  those  for  tubercn- 

176 


Some  Places   Where  Knowledge  is  Needed 

losis,  are  well  established  and  would  prevent 
the  majority  of  cases  if  intelligently  employed. 

In  a  recent  statement  by  E.  E.  Kittenhouse, 
president  of  the  Provident  Savings  Life  Assur- 
ance Society  of  New  York,  the  assertion  is  made 
that  annually  in  the  United  States  human  lives 
equaling  the  population  of  the  State  of  North 
Dakota  are  sacrificed  through  ignorance  and 
neglect  of  reasonable  and  known  preventive 
measures,  and  that  preventable  disease  and  ac- 
cident yearly  destroy  more  lives  than  have  been 
lost  in  all  the  country's  wars  since  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence. 

The  waste  of  life  due  to  the  ignorance  and 
carelessness  of  mothers  is  evidenced  by  a  state- 
ment made  by  Mrs.  C.  W.  Greene  that  of  the 
200,000  deaths  of  infants  annually  in  the  United 
States  52%  are  preventable. 

Fearful  losses  of  life  and  economic  waste  re- 
sult yearly  from  preventable  accidents.  In 
1907  2,500  persons  were  killed  and  6,000  seri- 
ously injured  in  coal  mining.  For  the  year 
ending  with  June  30th,  1908,  the  railroads  of 
the  United  States  killed  10,188  and  injured 
104,230  more.  Of  the  killed  381  were  passen- 
gers, and  of  the  injured  11,556  were  passengers. 
»  Of  the  29,000,000  persons  working  in  the 
United  States  it  is  stated  that  500,000  are  killed 

177 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

or  crippled  each  year,  a  greater  number  than 
were  killed  or  injured  in  the  Japanese-Russian 
War.  President  Van  Hise  of  the  University  of 
"Wisconsin  says  it  is  certain  that  proper  pre- 
cautionary measures  might  reduce  the  accidents 
to  one-tenth  of  the  present  number. 

A  large  number  of  hunting  accidents  are  re- 
ported each  year.  More  than  100  persons  lost 
their  lives  in  1906  from  hunting  accidents. 
Very  few  occurred  from  mistaking  persons  for 
deer  or  other  large  game.  The  United  States 
Department  of  Agriculture,  which  made  an  in- 
vestigation of  hunting  accidents,  reports  that 
many  accidents  are  due  to  gross  carelessness  in 
the  use  of  firearms,  such  as  pulling  a  gun  out 
of  a  boat  by  the  muzzle,  looking  down  the  barrel 
of  a  loaded  gun  and  the  handling  of  guns  by 
uninstructed  boys.  The  22-calibre  rifle  and  the 
shot  gun  prove  more  dangerous  than  heavy 
guns.  Proper  instruction  in  gun  handling 
would  no  doubt  reduce  the  accidents  from  fire- 
arms to  a  negligible  number. 

The  extreme  prevalence  of  accidents  as  shown 
suggests  the  need  of  better  knowledge  of  dan- 
gerous employments  and  risky  situations.  Not 
a  day  passes  without  its  toll  of  avoidable  mis- 
haps, entailing  pain,  expense,  household  sorrow 
and  permanent  injury.    The  situations  in  which 

178 


Some  Places   Where   Knowledge  is  Needed 

accidents  occur  are  continually  being  repeated, 
but  adequate  warning  is  rarely  given,  and  in- 
dividuals learn  by  experience  of  the  most  ex- 
pensive kind.  Mere  prohibitions  as  usually 
given  are  not  effective.  Suppose  the  injunc- 
tion is,  ''Do  not  let  gasoline  escape,"  or,  *'Do 
not  jump  from  a  moving  train."  Such  admo- 
nitions unsupported  by  evidence  and  discussion 
have  little  weight  with  the  young  or  inexpe- 
rienced. Were  a  manual  of  accidents  prepared 
in  the  spirit  of  science  and  widely  known,  tens 
of  thousands  of  accidents,  petty  or  grave,  with 
their  incidental  expense,  would  be  avoided 
every  year.  Hundreds  of  typical  accident  sit- 
uations could  be  demonstrated  in  laboratories 
and  lecture  rooms,  and  thus  an  effective  expe- 
rience be  had  without  the  no  more  educational, 
but  wasteful  and  needless,  experience  of  real 
accident.  It  is  questionable  if  people  need  to 
learn  nearly  so  much  by  ''experience."  The 
purpose  of  education  is  to  substitute  learning 
by  understanding  for  learning  by  experience. 

If  this  boy  had  been  taught  the  necessary 
lesson  in  applied  physics  the  family  residence 
might  not  have  been  burned.  That  water  will 
spread  an  oil  fire  should  be  well  known. 


179 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

EXPLOSION    OF   A   LAMP. 

Cando,  N.  D.,  Jan.  8. — The  farm  residence 
formerly  owned  by  S.  S.  Thomas  near  Zion 
was  burned  to  the  ground  with  all  its  contents. 
Mrs.  S.  S.  Thomas,  daughter  and  youngest  son, 
left  early  in  the  evening  to  attend  the  literary 
society  meeting. 

After  getting  his  mother  and  brother  and  sis- 
ter started,  Edward,  the  oldest  son  who  re- 
mained at  home,  went  into  the  house  and  was 
preparing  to  read  until  time  to  retire.  He 
found  the  large  kerosene  lamp  in  need  of  oil 
and  filled  and  lighted  it,  setting  it  on  the  stand 
near  the  sofa.  He  had  not  read  long  when  the 
lamp  exploded;  realising  that  quick  action  was 
necessary,  he  went  to  the  kitchen  and  got  the 
water  pail  and  threw  the  water  onto  the  oil, 
which  caused  it  to  sjDread,  setting  fire  to  the 
carpet  and  curtains.  He  fought  desperately  to 
extinguish  the  flames  but  it  was  too  late,  so  he 
started  taking  out  as  much  of  the  furniture  as 
possible.^ 

If  every  school  child  were  effectively  taught 
the  danger  of  descending  into  wells,  and  knew 
how  to  test  for  dangerous  gases,  such  fatalities 
as  the  following  would  be  less  frequent. 

1  From   a  newspaper. 

180 


Some  Places   Where  Knowledge  is  Needed 

Cornelius  Larson  and  son  Carl  near  the 
Junction  were  working  on  their  well  Monday,  and 
the  son  went  into  the  well  to  do  some  work  and 
was  overcome  by  dead  air  and  died  in  a  short 
time.  The  father  went  to  see  the  reason  of  his 
son  not  coming  up  and  was  also  overcome.  He 
is  in  a  serious  condition  and  hopes  are  enter- 
tained for  his  recovery.  The  unfortunate 
young  man  was  employed  in  the  law  office  of 
Attorney  Ames,  at  May\^ille,  which  position  he 
resigned  on  Saturday.  The  funeral  was  held 
from  the  Bruflat  church  to-day.^ 


In  view  of  the  tremendous  losses  by  avoid- 
able fires  it  would  seem  that  the  schools  should 
teach  the  science  of  avoiding  fires.  Why  should 
there  not  be  a  chapter  in  the  school  text-book 
discussing  in  sufficient  detail  the  various  ways 
in  which  fires  originate?  Very  likely  the  fire 
insurance  companies  of  the  countiy  could  sup- 
ply data  on  the  origin  of  fires  that  could  be 
utilised  as  a  chapter  in  physics  or  elementary 
science.  By  teaching  fire  protection  the  schools 
might  perform  an  economic  service  reimbursing 
the  public  in  no  small  degree  for  educational 
expenditures.  Simple  laboratory  exercises  il- 
lustrating the  origin  of  fires,  and  a  few  lectures 

1  From  a  newspaper. 

181 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

would  doubtless  eventually  greatly  reduce  losses 
by  fire,  which  amount  to  over  a  million  dollars 
a  day  in  the  United  States. 


The  use  of  patent  medicines  is  suggestive. 
The  case  against  patent  medicines  is  put  in  a 
nutshell  by  Professor  J.  B.  Tingle  of  Toronto. 
He  says,  ' '  Of  patent  medicines  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  a  few  are  useful  in  certain  cases,  most  of 
them  are  entirely  without  medicinal  value,  and 
some  are  decidedly  harmful.  All  of  them  are 
enormously  expensive  to  the  purchaser,  and  no 
single  one  contains  anything  that  is  not  well 
known  to  the  competent  medical  practitioner." 

The  high  percentage  of  alcohol  in  various 
patent  medicines  is  prima  facie  evidence  against 
their  value. 

Whisky  is  an  innocent  ingredient  compared 
with  opiates  and  coal  tar  products.  Numbers 
of  well  authenticated  cases  of  the  death  of  chil- 
dren from  sleep-inducing  nostrums  are  on 
record,  and  serious  heart  disorders  are  traced 
to  headache  and  neuralgia  cures. 

Nobody  seems  to  know  how  much  the  public 
spends  annually  for  patent  medicines.  Judg- 
ing by  the  number  of  drug  stores  and  the  shelf 
space  occupied  by  patent  medicines,  the  amount 
of  advertising  by  medicine  firms,  the  estates  of 

182 


Some  Places   Where  Knowledge  is  Needed 

patent  medicine  makers  and  frequency  of  allu- 
sion to  taking  patent  medicines,  it  is  probable 
that  millions  of  dollars  are  wasted  every  month 
on  nostrums.  In  one  district  in  a  large  city  the 
sales  of  one  patent  medicine  amounted  in  one 
month  to  $6,300  and  of  another  to  $2,800.  One 
writer  estimates  the  amount  spent  annually  for 
patent  medicines  in  the  United  States  at  $100,- 
000,000.  A  drug  salesman  in  North  Dakota 
estimates  that  three-fourths  of  the  population 
in  his  territory  use  patent  medicines,  poor  peo- 
ple buying  most  in  an  effort  to  do  without  doc- 
tors. 


That  the  public  suffers  in  health  and  purse 
from  ignorance  of  the  nature  of  commodities 
offered  for  sale  is  clear  in  the  case  of  foods. 
The  consumer  has  been  and  still  is  largely  in 
the  dark  regarding  the  quality  and  make-up  of 
the  food  he  puts  into  his  mouth,  and  feeds  to 
invalids  and  infants. 

Investigations  show  that  almost  all  coffee 
contains  chicory.  Some  contains  groimd  peas, 
beans  and  bread  crusts.  Imitation  coffee  beans 
are  coloured  with  Venetian  red  and  burnt  um- 
ber. Low  grade  coffee  beans  are  varnished 
with  chrome  yellow — a  poison — and  with  a  mix- 
ture of  eggs  preserved  in  formaldehyde. 

183 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

Cocoas  are  adulterated  with  starches,  arrow 
root  and  cocoa  shells.  Teas  are  adulterated 
with  elm  and  willow  leaves.  Butter  is  coloured 
with  aniline  dyes  and  adulterated  with  marrow 
fat  and  water.  E.  F.  Ladd,  food  commissioner 
of  North  Dakota,  found  that  fully  95%  of  the 
butchers  of  the  State  were  using  preservatives 
containing  injurious  sulphites  or  borates. 
Maraschino  cherries  are  bleached  with  brine 
and  sulphurous  acid,  then  loaded  with  glucose 
or  sugar  and  coloured  with  coal  tar  dye  or 
cochineal. 

Horseradish,  cheese,  pepper,  buckwheat  flour, 
potted  beef,  turkey  and  chicken,  canned  beans, 
peas  and  corn,  codfish,  com  meal,  fruits,  jams, 
jellies,  lard,  meats,  mushrooms,  oleomargarine, 
oysters,  pineapple,  rye  flour,  sausage,  tapioca, 
tomatoes  and  other  edibles  have  been  adulter- 
ated and  marketed  to  millions  of  consumers  in 
ignorance  of  what  they  were  buying  and  to  the 
injury  of  health  and  purse.  Adulterations  of 
many  kinds  of  foods  and  of  many  brands  of 
food  have  been  discovered.  Books  are  written 
on  food  adulterations  and  college  courses  given 
to  the  subject.  The  economic  loss  is  conjec- 
tural, but  that  millions  a  year  have  been 
taken  by  the  frauds  of  adulteration  cannot  be 
doubted. 

184 


Some  Places  Where  Knowledge  is  Needed 

Knowledge  of  materials  should  extend  to 
weights  and  measures.  A  weight-and-measure 
consciousness,  inculcated  by  education,  would 
mean  much  for  popular  welfare.  It  is  esti- 
mated by  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  of 
New  York  City  that  the  people  of  that  city  are 
robbed  of  at  least  $13,000,000  a  year  by  short 
weight.  This  means  that  1,000  families  could 
be  provided  with  an  annual  income  of  $1,300 
from  this  minor  method  of  stealing  as  practised 
in  one  city. 

Investigations  made  in  New  York  City  by  the 
Bureau  indicated  that  in  Manhattan  44%  of  all 
scales,  59%  of  all  measures,  and  66%  of  all 
weights  defrauded  the  purchaser. 

Out  of  37  stores  in  Poughkeepsie  only  4  had 
correct  apparatus.  An  investigator  bought  24 
pounds  of  butter  in  different  stores  in  central 
New  York.  Only  3  of  the  24  pounds  were  full 
weight.  In  Newark,  Hoboken,  Jersey  City, 
Montclair,  Orange,  New  Brunswick,  Trenton 
and  Camden,  New  Jersey,  only  6%  of  549  deal- 
ers visited  had  no  deceptive  weights  and  meas- 
ures. Similar  conditions  have  been  found  in 
Boston,  Chicago,  Detroit  and  Cleveland.  A 
firm  of  scale  manufacturers  in  New  York  City 
with  an  output  of  100,000  scales  a  year  made 
false  scales  and  advertised  to  merchants  that 

185 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

the  scales  would  soon  pay  for  themselves.  In 
Massachusetts  it  was  found  that  "in  almost  all 
instances  %  barrel  sacks  of  flour  do  not  contain 
2414  pounds  of  flour." 

A  recent  bulletin  from  the  University  of  Wis- 
consin states  that  ''over  $10,000,000,000  is  spent 
in  the  United  States  annually  for  food,  shelter 
and  clothing  and  that  90%  of  this  vast  sum  is 
spent  by  women  who  have  had  no  training 
which  would  fit  them  to  spend  this  money  wisely 
and  to  the  best  advantage." 

Every  consumer  pays  dearly  for  ignorance 
of  materials.  We  look  more  and  more  to  the 
specialist  for  expert  knowledge,  but  we  cannot 
delegate  fully  to  him  the  function  of  judging  the 
quality  of  purchases.  The  purchaser  must  al- 
ways be  to  a  large  extent  his  own  specialist  and 
expert.  Why  should  not  every  school  in  the 
land  teach  how  to  judge  the  clothes  on  one's 
back?  If  teachable  knowledge  of  fabrics  is  not 
now  available,  could  not  such  knowledge  be 
readily  organised  and  its  essentials  popular- 
ised? In  the  meantime  silks  fraudulently 
loaded  with  mineral  matter,  and  furs  from  im- 
possible animals  are  freely  sold. 

An  incident  of  which  the  writer  was  a  witness 
is  in  point.  A  woman  came  into  a  tailor's  shop 
carrying  a  piece  of  goods  costing  over  $20  and 

186 


Some  Places   Where  Knotvledge  is  Needed 

supposed  by  her  to  be  pongee  silk.  She  came 
to  ask  the  tailor  if  there  was  any  way  of  remov- 
ing the  spots  caused  by  water  falling  on  the 
goods.  The  goods  was  mined  if  the  water  spots 
could  not  be  removed.  It  became  evident  that 
the  goods  was  but  a  spurious  pongee  which  was 
ruined  by  water.  The  piece  was  practically 
worthless.  The  woman's  inability  to  test  goods 
before  buying  caused  a  money  loss  that  was  reg- 
istered in  household  deprivations. 

Advertisements  rarely  give  scientific  descrip- 
tions of  goods  offered,  the  appeal  being  to  the 
popularity  of  the  dealer  or  the  brand.  Soaps 
of  indifferent  or  even  injurious  nature  are 
freely  marketed.  Many  of  those  sold  cheap 
for  laundry  purposes  are  actually  much  more 
expensive  than  higher  priced  soaps  of  better 
grade.  The  relative  values  of  different  kinds 
of  coal  is  an  important  subject  upon  which  too 
little  is  popularly  known.  Cement  construc- 
tion is  of  interest  to  large  numbers.  Expen- 
sive errors  in  its  use  are  to  be  seen  in  crumbling 
basement  walls  and  imioerfect  sidewalks  and 
structures. 

The  time  was,  perhaps,  when  there  was  less 
need  of  knowing  the  quality  of  goods  bought, 
as  dealing  was  more  direct  between  man  and 
man,  and  the  exploitation  of  ignorance  was  less 

187 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

attempted  or  less  successful.  Moreover,  the 
vast  increase  in  kinds  of  goods  offered  for  sale 
has  opened  up  opportunities  for  exploiting  the 
buyer,  for  knowledge  of  quality  has  not  kept 
pace  with  manufacturing.  It  is  hardly  too 
much  to  say  that  were  the  citizen  informed 
upon  the  quality  and  original  cost  of  the  goods 
he  buys,  changes  affecting  the  distribution  of 
population  and  of  wealth  would  be  realised  in 
society.  The  extent  to  which  gains  are  made 
out  of  the  buyer's  ignorance  is  far  greater  than 
at  first  glance  appears. 

Silks  are  adulterated  with  mercerised  cotton 
and  artificial  silks  are  made  from  cellulose. 
Such  a  thing  as  pure  silk  is  rare,  although  con- 
sumers buy  great  quantities  of  supposedly  pure 
silk.  In  dyeing,  silks  are  weighted  with  sugar, 
starch,  and  tin  chloride,  increasing  the  weight 
as  much  as  150%.  Silk  fabrics  have  been 
found  that  were  over  70%  tin. 

Dr.  Pellew  of  Columbia  University  says: 
"Last  winter  I  tried  hard  to  get  a  piece  of 
white  taffeta  that  was  not  markedly  weighted. 
I  visited  the  department  stores  and  the  best 
dry  goods  houses  in  New  York  City,  and  was 
told  that  no  such  material  now  existed.  The 
best  I  could  do  was  to  find  a  piece  in  which  the 

188 


Some  Places  Where  Knowledge  is  Needed 

warp  was  fairly  pure  and  the  woof  well 
weighted."  "Practically  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  pure  silk,"  says  Professor  Mary 
Woolman  of  Columbia  University. 

Linen  is  freely  adulterated  and  sold  as  gen- 
uine. "All  linen"  collars,  handkerchiefs,  and 
towels  are  frequently  found  all  or  largely  cot- 
ton. Cotton  has  not  as  yet  been  much  adulter- 
ated but  it  is  predicted  that  if  the  price  of  cot- 
ton rises  high  enough,  cotton  too  will  be  sold 
under  fraudulent  representations. 

Woollen  goods  contain  many  a  fraud  in  imi- 
tation of  sheep's  clothing.  Blankets,  dress 
goods  and  underwear  bought  for  all  wool  are 
often  found  largely  cotton.  Cotton  thread  is 
veneered  with  wool,  and  by  heat,  moisture  and 
pressure  short  woollen  threads  are  felted  on 
cotton  fabrics.  Cotton  fibres  are  mixed  with 
wool.  Old  woollens,  as  discarded  clothing,  car- 
pets, rags,  stockings,  underwear  and  tailors' 
scraps,  are  mechanically  shredded  and  used  as 
adulterants.  Such  second  hand  wool  is  rela- 
tively worthless  because  of  short  fibres  and 
treatment  in  chemical  baths. 

Manufacturers  and  dealers  are  able  to  de- 
fraud the  public  with  adulterated  textiles 
simply  through  the   ignorance  of  the  public. 

189 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

The  public  needs  to  know  textiles  or  to  know  how 
to  secure  protection  by  utilising  the  knowledge 
of  specialists. 

With  60%  of  the  adult  wage  earners  of  the 
United  States  receiving  a  wage  of  $600  or  less 
a  year,  the  importance  of  avoiding  losses 
through  adulteration  is  evident. 


Investments  require  a  special  knowledge. 
A  New  York  banking  house  publishes  the  state- 
ment that  the  loss  in  this  country  due  to  bad 
or  speculative  investments  is  $640,000,000 
yearly.  One  meets  hardly  a  man  who  does  not 
have  a  quantity  of  worthless  stock  or  who 
has  not  lost  through  speculative  investment. 
Small  sums  of  money  saved  painfully  in  poor 
families  are  invested  with  fear  and  trembling, 
and  often  lost. 

The  man  who  as  a  boy  studied  the  subject  of 
percentage  or  stocks  and  bonds  in  the  arithmetic 
gained,  it  is  true,  important  and  serviceable 
knowledge.  Such  knowledge  is  fundamental. 
However,  such  knowledge  is  inadequate; 
it  should  be  supplemented  by  knowledge  of 
the  conditions  surrounding  problems  in  per- 
centage and  stocks  and  bonds.  "Business 
practice"  as  set  forth  in  school  manuals  is  dif- 
ferent from  business  practice  in  reality.    Why 

190 


Sovie  Places   Where  Knowledge  is  Needed 

should  not  knowledge  of  real  business  practice 
find  a  place  in  books  of  instruction?  So  long 
as  fear  depresses  the  small  investor  there  is 
need  of  more  explicit  teaching.  Exploitation 
rests  upon  the  ignorance  of  the  exploited.  The 
inner  workings  of  the  commercial,  investment 
and  banking  world  might  easily  find  a  place  in 
any  scheme  of  education  that  purjoorts  to  be 
practical,  vital  and  democratic. 

Even  the  teaching  of  general  caution  in  in- 
vestment would  save  the  public  millions  of  dol- 
lars. Without  special  instruction  the  average 
man  would  not  believe,  for  example,  that  upon 
finding  that  a  mining  prospect  was  absolutely 
worthless  men  would  organise  a  company,  and 
start  east  to  market  the  stock,  simply  because 
they  needed  the  money.  Nor  would  one  ordi- 
narily expect  that  city  lots  bought  in  good 
faith,  but  unseen,  should  be  found  at  the  bot- 
tom of  a  lake.  Knowledge  of  cases  of  cheating 
should  be  made  known.  That  the  public  is 
gullible  is  no  very  great  reproach  to  the  public 
but  a  very  great  reproach  to  the  agencies  of  in- 
struction, which  permit  a  conspiracy  of  si- 
lence, while  sometimes  puttering  with  kinds  of 
knowledge  of  no  appreciable  worth. 

The  schools  would  render  a  large  economic 
service  if  they  taught  how  to  avoid  being  vic- 

191 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

timised  and  defrauded.  A  list  of  all  known 
swindles  properly  indexed  and  annotated 
would  serve  a  valuable  purpose.  The  victim 
of  swindle  often  conceals  his  experience  and 
takes  no  steps  to  warn  others.  The  widest 
publicity  should  be  given  to  schemes  for  fraud, 
and  to  trade  practices  where  business  success 
rests  upon  concealment  of  facts. 

The  economic  importance  of  education  for 
the  prevention  of  susceptibility  to  fraud  is  im- 
plied in  a  current  press  note.  Are  not  the 
agencies  of  public  instruction  responsible  for 
the  existence  of  a  "sucker  list"? 

''Postmaster  General  Hitchcock  has  been  do- 
ing notable  work  in  prosecuting  swindlers  who 
make  use  of  the  mails.  In  the  past  year  78 
prosecutions  have  been  conducted  successfully, 
firms  and  corporations  being  brought  to  ac- 
count that  have  robbed  the  public  of  more  than 
$100,000,000  in  the  past  five  years.  One  of  the 
most  notorious  of  the  swindling  firms  was  Burr 
Brothers,  with  offices  in  Chicago,  Seattle  and 
other  cities.  They  sold  stock  in  fake  mining, 
oil  and  railroad  companies,  amounting  to  mil- 
lions. Their  mail  on  the  day  of  their  arrest 
contained  $20,000.  A  long  list  of  names  known 
as  the  'sucker  list'  was  taken." 

The  citizen  usually  lacks  knowledge  of  the 
192 


Some  Places   Where  Knowledge  is  Needed 

character  and  profits  of  concerns  dealt  with 
and  of  means  to  employ  to  prevent  his  exploita- 
tion by  them.  He  should  be  supplied  with  both 
classes  of  facts. 


The  prevalence  of  cases  of  maladjustment  to 
mechanical  en\'ironment  deserves  special  recog- 
nition in  education.  Even  a  fair  knowledge  of 
physics  seems  insufficient,  inasmuch  as  many 
who  have  such  knowledge  fail  to  make  the  nec- 
essary connection  between  general  principles 
and  particular  situations.  A  special  physics 
of  household  appliances,  of  farm  machines,  and 
of  the  mechanisms  met  with  on  the  street  and 
in  buildings  is  desirable.  The  housewife 
should  know  the  construction  of  the  gas  metre, 
for  example.  Education  should  effect  the  ad- 
justment of  the  individual  to  the  mechanisms 
with  which  he  comes  in  contact.  The  extent  of 
his  need  to  know  machinery  should  be  the  meas- 
ure of  instruction  actually  provided. 

The  use  of  ''modern  conveniences"  in  houses 
leads  to  many  exhibitions  of  ignorance.  The 
family  of  a  travelling  man  was  nearly  driven 
out  of  doors  by  a  foul  smell.  A  plumber  ex- 
plained that  the  sewer  trap  in  the  basement 
should  be  kept  filled  with  water.    A  profes- 

193 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

sional  man,  a  college  graduate,  paid  a  plumb- 
er's bill  to  learn  that  sediment  should  be  drawn 
off  occasionally  from  a  pipe  in  which  muddy 
water  is  heated.  The  expense  bill  due  to  igno- 
rance of  mechanical  appliances  in  common  use 
runs  into  large  figures. 

The  instances  where  ignorance  of  mechanical 
principles  has  resulted  in  losses,  not  to  say  dis- 
asters, are  innumerable  and  of  common  knowl- 
edge. They  range  from  the  case  of  the  woman 
who  attempts  to  sharpen  her  scissors  by  draw- 
ing the  blades  between  the  V-shaped  cor- 
rugated prongs  of  a  knife  sharpener,  thus  ruin- 
ing the  scissors,  to  the  merchant  who  orders 
out  an  expensive  hot  water  heating  plant  which 
has  become  useless  because  of  a  thick  accumu- 
lation of  soot  between  heating  coils  that  quite 
cuts  off  the  heat  from  the  water. 

Ignorance  of  mechanisms  is  illustrated  by 
the  following  reported  cases. 


Some  people  left  a  house  containing  a  hot 
water  system  and  did  not  draw  off  the  radia- 
tors. When  they  returned  the  system  had 
frozen  and  through  ignorance  they  started  a 
very  hot  fire  which  caused  the  pipes  to  burst. 
A  great  expense  was  thus  incurred. 


194 


Some  Places  Where  Knowledge  is  Needed 

The  engineer  of  a  traction  engine  learned  to 
run  the  engine  in  a  purely  empirical  way.  The 
effects  of  dirty  and  impure  water  in  scaling  the 
boiler  and  sticking  the  safety  valve  and  water 
gauge  were  not  understood.  Eesult, — explo- 
sion killing  two  men  and  wrecking  the  machine. 


A  certain  man  thought  that  he  could  do  his 
threshing  cheaper  by  buying  a  machine  him- 
self. So  he  looked  some  over  which  were  not 
so  very  large  and  not  very  expensive.  After 
he  had  used  the  rig  purchased  for  two  or  three 
days  he  found  that  the  engine  would  not  do  the 
work.  The  company  would  not  take  back  the 
engine. 


The  importance  of  adequate  instruction  in 
farm  machinery  is  convincingly  set  forth  by  ex- 
perts, who  recognise  the  vast  aggregate  invest- 
ment in  farm  machinery  and  the  almost  com- 
plete lack  of  instruction  on  the  part  of  farmers 
properly  to  buy,  set  up  and  use. 

The  1907  report  of  the  secretary  of  agricul- 
ture says:  ''The  continued  scarcity  of  farm 
labour  in  almost  all  the  agricultural  regions  in 
this  country  makes  necessary  tlie  employment 
of  farm  machinery  on  an  even  more  extensive 
scale  than  has  hitherto  prevailed.     The  total 

195 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

value  of  implements  and  machinery  on  farms 
in  this  country,  according  to  the  last  census, 
was  $761,261,500,  an  average  of  $133  per  farm 
and  of  90  cents  per  acre  of  farm  land.  Much 
of  this  machinery  is  elaborate  and  complicated 
in  construction  and  requires  mechanical  skill 
and  genius  for  its  most  efficient  operation  and 
care.  In  very  many  cases  it  is  also  essential 
that  the  farmer  should  understand  how  to  re- 
pair such  machinery.  It  represents  an  impor- 
tant part  of  the  farmer's  invested  capital  upon 
which  he  must  earn  or  pay  interest.  That  there 
is  an  enormous  waste  of  money  due  to  neglect 
and  unskilful  handling  of  this  part  of  the  farm 
equipment  must  be  obvious  to  any  one  who  has 
travelled  through  the  regions  where  it  is  most 
used." 

Continuing  he  says:  *'No  more  significant 
change  is  taking  place  in  American  agriculture 
than  the  extent  to  which  different  kinds  of  mo- 
tive power  are  taking  the  place  of  men  and  ani- 
mals. The  use  of  the  traction  engine  and  auto- 
mobile in  place  of  the  horse  on  country  roads, 
and  the  employment  of  gasoline,  steam,  wind, 
and  electric  power  to  operate  mowers,  thresh- 
ers, ploughs,  feed  cutters,  corn  buskers,  and 
dairy  machinery  are  illustrations  of  epoch-mak- 
ing changes  that  are  now  going  on  on  every 

196 


Some  Places  Where  Knowledge  Is  Needed 

modern  American  farm.  On  one  ranch  in  Cali- 
fornia there  is  $60,000  worth  of  farm  machinery 
operated  by  some  other  power  than  ani- 
mals or  man.  For  want  of  proper  information 
these  changes  are  involving  farmers  in  serious 
mistakes  and  large  losses.  They  buy  motors 
not  suited  to  their  requirements  or  which  they 
do  not  know  how  to  operate.  They  buy  ma- 
chineiy  not  adapted  to  their  conditions  and 
cause  its  rapid  destruction  by  not  knowing  how 
to  care  for  it. 

There  is  made  and  sold  each  year  in  this 
country  about  $100,000,000  worth  of  farm  ma- 
chinery. Fully  one-half  of  this  goes  into  the 
hands  of  men  who  do  not  know  how  to  select  it 
wisely  or  to  keep  it  in  proper  condition.  The 
waste  which  results  runs  into  millions  of  dol- 
lars annually." 

While  the  need  of  mechanical  knowledge  is 
universal  the  farmer  especially  has  come  to  re- 
quire an  extensive  knowledge  of  machinery. 
Methods  of  agriculture  have  developed  toward 
the  mechanical.  If  he  is  not  to  be  at  the  mercy 
of  others  the  farmer  of  to-day  must  be  versed 
in  mechanics.  He  needs  to  know  what  ma- 
chines to  buy  and  their  principles  of  construc- 
tion. Expert  service  required  to  set  up  or  re- 
pair his  machines  costs  heavily.    The  loss  due 

197 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

to  neglect  of  machinery  and  inability  to  make 
simple  repairs  costs  the  farming  class  dearly. 
To  decide  among  makes  in  purchasing  taxes 
one's  knowledge  of  materials  and  mechanics. 


A  steady  lessening  of  soil  fertility  over  large 
areas  implies  ignorance  of  proper  methods  of 
farming.  Exploitative  farming  has  resulted  in 
serious  loss  of  phosphorus  from  the  soil,  an 
element  that  can  with  great  difficulty  be  re- 
placed, as  nature  affords  but  a  limited  supply. 
The  worn-out  tobacco  lands  of  Virginia,  and 
lands  in  New  York,  Ohio  and  various  other 
States  have  been  seriously  depleted  in  phos- 
phorus. One-third  of  the  State  of  Illinois  is 
said  to  be  deficient  in  phosphorus,  and  the 
cropped  fields  of  Wisconsin  have  lost  more 
than  a  third  of  that  element. 

The  falling  off  of  the  wheat  yield  in  northern 
California,  in  the  Willamette  Valley,  and  in  the 
Dakotas  is  ascribed  in  part  to  the  loss  of  phos- 
phorus. Continuous  grain  raising,  so  widely 
practised,  results  in  serious  soil  exhaustion. 
It  is  inconceivable  that  farmers  acquainted 
with  the  chemical  elements  of  the  soil  and  hav- 
ing a  tolerance  of  science  would  persist  in  ulti- 
mately ruinous  methods.  Education  is  needed 
with  reference  to  the  losses  of  chemical  ele- 

198 


Some  Places  Where  Knotcledge  Is  Needed 

ments  from  the  soil  due  to  the  exportation  of 
grains,  the  waste  of  manure,  and  the  draining 
away  of  soil  constituents  in  the  millions  of  tons 
of  sewage  poured  into  the  rivers  and  sea. 

One  of  the  sources  of  loss  is  the  improper 
selection  of  seed.  The  importance  of  good  ani- 
mal stock  for  breeding  purposes  is  coming  to 
be  appreciated  by  the  farmer,  but  he  is  still  in- 
different to  the  possibilities  of  high  bred  wheat, 
oats  and  other  crops.  A  writer  on  the  subject 
of  seed  selection  in  North  Dakota,  President  J. 
H.  "Worst,  estimates  that  the  right  selection  of 
seed  wheat  would  result  in  an  increase  of  five 
bushels  to  the  acre  for  the  State,  representing 
a  gain  of  between  twenty  and  twenty-five  mil- 
lions of  dollars  annually  to  the  farmers  of  the 
State.  The  same  writer  asserts  that  an  equal 
amount  in  addition  would  be  gained  by  right 
cultivation. 

Plant  diseases,  largely  controllable  by  scien- 
tific methods,  entail  enormous  losses.  Oat 
smut  cost  the  farmers  of  Wisconsin  $4,500,000 
annually,  some  years  ago,  according  to  R.  A. 
Moore.  The  formaldehyde  treatment  of  seed 
barley  and  oats  makes  unnecessary  any  loss  of 
these  crops  from  smut.  The  losses  the  country 
over  from  plant  diseases  total  into  hundreds  of 
millions  of  dollars. 

199 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

North  Dakota  produces  about  60%  of  the  flax 
produced  in  the  United  States,  but  the  crop  will 
soon  be  lost  to  the  State,  according  to  0.  0. 
Churchill,  unless  great  care  is  used  in  control- 
ling flax  wilt,  a  parasitic  disease  of  the  plant. 
Methods  of  control  have  been  satisfactorily  de- 
veloped. It  remains  with  the  educability  of  the 
farmer  to  decide  the  future  of  flax  in  the  State. 

Crop  losses  from  weeds  can  be  very  largely 
eliminated  by  scientific  methods.  These  meth- 
ods are  cutting  or  pulling,  cleaning  seed  grain, 
burning  stubble  and  composting  manure,  culti- 
vation, smothering  and  spraying.  Instruction 
of  farmers  in  these  methods  would  greatly  re- 
duce money  losses  from  weeds,  annually  reach- 
ing many  millions  of  dollars. 

Ignorance  of  the  need  of  drainage  and  of  how 
to  drain  farm  lands  needs  to  be  overcome. 
Out  of  100  farms  entered  in  a  "model  farm" 
contest  in  1906,  in  North  Dakota,  not  five  were 
found,  by  Thomas  Shaw,  which  were  not  suffer- 
ing from  lack  of  drainage,  ''and  where  the  crop 
had  not  suffered,  and  suffered  severely  and 
very  materially  because  the  land  had  not  been 
sufficiently  drained." 

He  adds  that  ''it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say 
that  there  have  been  millions  of  dollars  lost  to 
the  Red  Eiver  Valley  on  account  of  the  lack  of 

200 


Some  Places  Where  Knowledge  Is  Needed 

drainage  to  the  lands."  The  mere  statement 
of  these  conditions  raises  a  presumption  that  the 
educational  agencies  to  which  the  farmers  must 
look  for  aid  have  not  yet  succeeded  in  getting 
their  attention  or  in  imparting  a  saving  knowl- 
edge. 

Losses  from  animal  diseases  are  large  and 
mostly  preventable.  The  losses  for  1907  were 
estimated  for  the  United  States  at  $267,000,000. 
The  diseases  included  hog  cholera,  cattle  tick, 
scabies,  tuberculosis,  anthrax  and  others.  The 
economic  value  of  knowledge  functioning  for 
the  prevention  of  animal  diseases  is  evident. 

The  selection  of  knowledge  for  diffusion  by 
the  school  or  other  agencies  should  be  in  re- 
sponse to  needs  as  exhibited  in  the  various  re- 
lations of  the  individual.  Adjustments  in  ac- 
tual progress  and  maladjustments  resulting  in 
losses  and  sufferings,  of  which  the  foregoing 
are  merely  illustrative,  are  signboards  to  the 
choice  of  information  to  be  made  available  by 
diffusional  agencies. 


201 


XIV 

A  Democratised  Curriculum 

Assuming  the  evaluation  of  information,  the 
formulation  of  a  curriculum  in  outline  may  be 
attempted.  The  importance  of  a  properly  bal- 
anced curriculum  can  hardly  be  overestimated. 
All  children  in  the  public  schools  should  have 
nearly  the  same  studies  up  to  about  the  age  of 
eighteen,  when  differentiation  of  studies  for 
vocational  reasons  may  properly  occur.  Every 
year  and  grade  should  offer  a  combination  of 
the  three  main  types  of  knowledge,  adapted  to 
the  capacity  of  the  learner. 

Heretofore  there  has  been  little  differentia- 
tion of  courses  among  the  pupils  in  the  elemen- 
tary schools.  The  three  R's  with  more  re- 
cently added  studies,  such  as  physiology,  music, 
drawing,  nature  study  and  hand  work,  have 
been  freely  offered  to  all  pupils  of  the  public 
schools.  There  are  not  wanting  advocates, 
however,  of  the  plan  of  distinguishing  among 
pupils  at  an  early  age,  giving  those  who  are 
from  poor  families  a  maximum  of  productional 

202 


A  Democratised  Curriculum 

subject  matter  wliile  instructing  others  in  a 
wider  range  of  subjects.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
there  may  be  no  cleavage  in  the  elementary- 
schools  which  may  tend  to  class  divisions  in  so- 
ciety. 

In  the  field  of  secondary  school  education 
there  are  numerous  examples  of  curricula 
not  evenly  proportioned  among  the  significant 
types  of  knowledge,  and  it  is  with  reference  to 
high  schools  that  the  problem  of  a  democratic 
curriculum  is  most  acute.  High  school  cur- 
ricula of  the  more  usual  type  contain  a  su- 
perabundance of  consumptional  subject  matter. 
This  may  be  accounted  for  on  the  ground  that 
until  somewhat  recently  the  high  school  catered 
to  a  prosperous  class  in  society  whose  children 
were  destined  for  college  or  for  a  scale  of  liv- 
ing above  that  of  the  wage-earner.  The  extent 
to  which  foreign  languages  have  appeared  in 
high  schools  implies  the  consumptional  aim. 
While  sciences  are  freely  offered  in  high  schools 
of  the  consumptional  type,  they  frequently  are 
presented  in  such  form  as  not  to  meet  espe- 
cially well  the  needs  of  the  producer.  The  gen- 
eral information  or  cultural  value  of  botany  or 
physics  may  be  emphasised  rather  than  the  ac- 
tual uses  of  these  subjects. 

Another  type  of  high  school,  on  the  other 
203 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

hand,  exalts  the  productional  aim  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  consumptional.  The  trade  high 
school  and  the  agricultural  high  school  may  go 
to  this  extreme. 

Among  the  colleges  and  universities,  con- 
siderations of  democracy,  so  far  as  it  depends 
upon  studies,  are  not  so  urgent,  inasmuch  as 
the  student  is  supposed  to  have  reached  a  ma- 
turity at  which  specialisation  need  not  inter- 
fere with  citizenship,  and  it  is  probable  that  if 
the  secondary  and  elementary  schools  did  their 
work  according  to  democratic  ideals  there 
would  be  no  need  of  anxiety  with  regard  to  the 
specialisation  of  the  student  in  his  choice  of 
studies  in  the  higher  institutions.  As  the  case 
stands,  however,  it  is  a  question  if  the  gradu- 
ates from  the  engineering  courses  of  our  uni- 
versities always  have  sufficient  education  for 
citizenship.  In  agricultural  colleges,  similarly, 
the  rapid  development  of  purely  productional 
studies  and  the  pressure  from  the  public  for  in- 
crease of  agricultural  production  tend  to  result 
in  the  graduation  of  students  who,  while 
eminently  trained  for  production,  are  perhaps 
often  inadequately  trained  as  consumers  and 
distributees. 

Institutions  giving  a  disproportionate 
amount  of  attention  to  distributional  knowl- 

204 


A  Democratised  Curriculum 

edge  do  not  seem  to  exist.  Indeed  it  is  hardly- 
possible  to  give  an  example  of  a  curriculum  hav- 
ing even  a  suitable  amount  of  such  informa- 
tion. The  courses  of  study  offered  in  law 
schools  seem  most  nearly  to  represent  the  cur- 
riculum of  distribution. 

As  an  example  of  the  predominantly  cultural 
or  consumptional  curriculum,  so  frequently 
found  in  American  high  schools,  the  following 
courses  of  study,  of  the  Tyler  County  High 
School,  Middlebourne,  West  Virginia,  are 
given : 


FIRST  YEAR 

FIRST 

SEMESTER                                       SECOND   SEMESTEB 

Algebra 

Algebra 

English 

English 

History 

History 

Latin 

Latin 

Drawing 

Drawing 

Music 

Music 

SECOND  YEAR 

FIRST 

SEMESTER                                       SECOND   SEMESTEB 

Algebra 

Geometry 

English 

English 

History 

History 

Latin 

Latin 

Drawing 

Drawing 

Music 

Music 

205 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 


THIRD  YEAR 


FIEST   SEMESTEB 

Geometry 

English 

History  and  Civics 

Physics  or  Chemistry 

Latin   (optional) 

Music   (optional) 

Drawing  (optional) 


SECOND   SEMESTER 

Geometry 

English 

History  and  Civics 

Physics  or  Chemistry 

Latin   (optional; 

Music    (optional) 

Drawing   (optional) 


FOURTH  YEAR 

FIEST   SEMESTEB  SBXJOND   SEMESTER 


English 

Botany  or  Zoology 

Latin   ( optional ) 

Teachers'  Course  (optional) 

Music    ( optional ) 

Drawing  (optional) 


English 

Botany  or  Zoology 

Latin   (optional) 

Teachers'  Course  (optional) 

Music    ( optional ) 

Drawing   (optional) 


At  the  other  extreme  is  the  almost  exclu- 
sively productional  curriculum  of  the  Lowell 
Textile  School,  which  follows : 


COTTON  MANUFACTURING 
FIRST  YEAR 

FIRST   TERM 


Mechanism 
Mechanical  Drawing 
Mathematics 

Hand  Loom  Weaving  and  Ele- 
ments of  Design 


Elementary  Chemistry 

English 

German  or  French 

Physical  Culture 


206 


A  Democratised  Curriculum 


SECOND  TEBM 


Cotton  Carding,  Drawing  and 
Spinning 

Textile  Design,  Cloth  Anal- 
ysis, Hand  Loom  Weaving 

Elementary  Inorganic  and  Or- 
ganic Chemistry 


Mechanism 
Mathematics 
Machine  Drawing 
German 
English 
Physical  Culture 


SECOND  YEAR 

FIRST  TERM 


Cotton  Carding,  Drawing  and 
Spinning 

Textile  Design 

Power  Weaving 

Textile  Chemistry  and  Dye- 
ing 


Machine  Drawing 
Steam  Engineering 
Weaving  Mechanism 
Physics 
Industrial  History 


Cotton  Spinning 
Textile  Design 
Power  Weaving 
Textile    Chemistry 

ing  Lecture 
Dyeing  Laboratory 


SECOND  TEaJM 

Machine  Drawing 
Hydraulics 

Strength  of  Materials 
and    Dye-      Physics      (Elementary 
tricity) 
Industrial  History 

THIRD  YEAR 


Elec- 


riBST   TERM 

Cotton  Yarn  Manufacture  Power  Weaving 

Knitting 

Textile    Design,     Cloth    Con- 
struction 


Cotton  Finishing 
Mill  Engineering 
Advanced   Electricity 

SECOND  TERM 


Cotton  Yarn  Manufacture 
Knitting 

Textile    Design,    Cloth    Con- 
Btruction 


Power  Weaving 
Cotton  Finishing 
Mill  Engineering 
Thesis 


207 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

Another  example  of  a  secondary  school  cur- 
riculum offering  little  except  productional  sub- 
ject matter  is  that  of  the  Crookston,  Minnesota, 
School  of  Agriculture,  as  follows: 


Blacksmithing 
Carpentry 
Military  drill 


COURSE  OF  STUDY 
FIRST  YEAR 

FIRST  TERM 

Farm  Botany  ; 

Drawing 

Music 

Farm  Mathematics 

Poultry 

Social  Culture 

English 

Agriculture 

}r  Cooking 
or    J  Physical  Training 
I  Sewing 

SECOND  TERM 


Farm  Botany 

English 

Music 

Study  of  Breeds 

Poultry 

Carpentry 

Drawing  Farm  Buildings 

Blacksmithing 

Military  Drill 


Cooking 

Laundering 

Drawing  Farm  Houses 

Physical  Training 

Sewing 


208 


A  DemGcratised  Curriculum 


stock  Judging 
Breeding 
Military  Drill 
Gymnasium 


Field  Crops 
Military  Drill 
Gymnasium 


SECOND  YEAR 

FIRST  TEKSI 

Agricultural  Physics 

Dairying 

Fruit  Growing 

Musio 
Farm  Accounts 

Cooking 


Household  Art 
Physical  Training 
Sewing 


SECOND  TERM 

Agricultural  Chemistry 

Dairying 

Music 

Agricultural  Physics 

Vegetable  Gardening 

'Cook  in? 


Home  Management 
"]  Physical  Training 
Sewing 


THIRD  YEAR 

FIRST   TERM 

Agricultural   Chemistry 

Forestry 
Entomology  and  Zoology 
Algebra   (optional) 
Handling  Grain  and  "^ 

Machinery  Cooking 

Veterinary   Science  L     or    J  Sewing 

Gymnasium  Music 

Music  or  Military  Drill 

209 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 


SECOND  TERM 

Civics  or  Geometry 
Plant  Propagation 
Algebra   (optional) 


Dressing  and  Curing 

Meats 
Stock  Judging 
Feeding 

Soils  and  Fertilisers 
Veterinary   Science 


Meats 

Home   Economy 

Cooking 

Domestic  Chemistry 

Domestic  Hygiene 

Sewing 


A  curriculum,  admirable  in  its  formal  recog- 
nition of  production  and  consumption,  is  that 
of  the  Petersham,  Massachusetts,  Agricultural 
High  School,  as  follows: 


FIRST  YEAR 


Algebra 

Agriculture    (Boys) 
Domestic  Science    (Girls) 
Book-keeping 
Ancient  History 
Elementary  Physics 


English    (Composition) 

Spelling 

Drawing 

Music 

Rhetoricals 


SECOND  YEAR 


Geometry 

Agriculture    ( Boys ) 
Domestic  Science   (Girls) 
Manual  Training 
French  or  German 
English      (American     Litera- 
ture) 


English  History 

Elementary   Chemistry 

Spelling 

Drawing 

Music 

Rhetoricals 


210 


A  Democratised  Curriculum 

THIRD  YEAR 

Agriculture   (Boys)  Physics   (Laboratory) 

Domestic  Science   (Girls)  English 

Manual  Training  French  or  Grcrman 

Biology  Spelling 

Botany  Drawing 

United    States    History    and      Music 

Civil  Government  Rhetoricals 
Physiology 

FOURTH  YEAR 

Agriculture   ( Boys )  Astronomy 

Floriculture    (Girls)  Trigonometry  and  Surveying 

Chemistry  (Laboratory)  French  or  German 

Zoology  Spelling 

Geology  Drawing 

English   (Rhetoric)  Music 

English   (Literature) 

One  of  the  most  interesting  offerings  of  dis- 
tributional subject  matter  is  that  from  the  de- 
partments of  political  economy  and  political 
science  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin.  The 
potency  for  democracy  of  distributional  subject 
matter  may  be  fairly  inferred  from  the  fact 
that  Wisconsin  is  styled  our  ''model  common- 
wealth," that  to  a  large  extent  the  leaders  of 
reform  movements  in  Wisconsin  have  been  edu- 
cated at  the  University,  and  that  these  depart- 
ments have  been  the  seed  plots  of  their  politi- 
cal ideas.  The  following  subjects  are  taught 
in  these  departments : 

211 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 


Elements  of  Economic  Science 

Elementary  Sociology- 
Elements  of  Public  Finance 

The  Elements  of  Money  and 
Banking 

Business  Administration 

Commercial  Law 

Industrial  Evolution  and  its 
Problems 

History  of  Economic  Thought 

Modem  Socialism 

Labour  Problems 

Labour  Legislation 

Problems  in  Taxation 

Agricultural  Economics 

Economic  Statistics 

Financial  History  of  the 
United  States 

Corporation  Finance  and  Se- 
curities 

The  Money  Market 

A  SUGGESTED  CUREICULUM 

The  following  outline  of  studies  is  offered  as 
satisfying  the  requirements  for  a  democratic 
curriculum.  The  period  covered  is  from  the 
pupil's  entrance  to  school  up  to  the  end  of 
secondary  school  attendance.  "With  the  excep- 
tion of  trades,  the  studies  are  designed  for 
both  boys  and  girls  and  for  all  students  alike. 
The  various  subjects  may  or  may  not  corre- 
spond with  subjects  as  at  present  organised. 
A  large  number  of  text-books,  of  as  brief  com- 

212 


Corporation  Economics 

Insurance  Economics 

Charities  and  Corrections 

Public  Utilities 

Socialism 

Value  and  Prices 

The  Distribution  of  Wealth 

Monopolies  and  Trusts 

The  Constitution  of  the  United 
States 

History  of  English  and  Amer- 
ican Law 

Jurisprudence 

Municipal  Grovemment 

State  Administration 

Federal  Administration 

Party  Government 

The  Theory  and  Practice  of 
Legislation 

Current  Political  Topics 


A  Ttemocratised  Curriculum 

pass  as  possible,  is  contemplated.  The  bulki- 
ness  of  the  course  is  apparent  rather  than  real, 
inasmuch  as  the  various  subjects  are  thought  of 
as  stripped  of  all  surplusage.  Division  into 
grades  and  years  is  a  matter  of  school  adminis- 
tration not  important  in  connection  with  the 
purpose  for  which  the  curriculum  is  suggested, 
i.  e.,  the  nature  and  relative  proportions  of 
subject  matter. 

PRODUCTION 
Language   (vernacular) 

Practical  Mathematics,  including  portions  of  arithmetic,  al- 
gebra and  geometry 

Elements  of  Manufacturing, — materials,  processes,  mechanical 
drawing,  manual  training 

Elements  of  Agriculture, — soils,  crops,   animals,   etc. 

The  Sciences, — productional  phases  of  botany,  physics,  geology, 
mineralogy,  chemistry,  etc. 

Conservation  of  Wealth, — sanitation,  fire  prevention,  natural 
resources 

Trades, — brief  courses  in  many  trades,  as  housekeeping,  farm- 
ing, carpentry,  printing,  plumbing,  railroading,  stenog- 
raphy, dressmaicing,  nursing,  etc.,  etc.,  according  to  choice. 

DISTRIBUTION 

Current  Political  Events  and  Slavery 

Social  Movements  Feudalism 

Economic  History  The  Elective  Franchise 

The  Distribution  of  Wealth  Inheritance 

War  Taxation 

International  Peace  Political  Parties 

213 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 


Comparative  Government 

Direct  Legislation 

Labour  Organisations 

Socialism 

Money 

Graft 

Corporations 

The  Middleman 

Banking 

Insurance 

Modern  Business 


Charity 

Old  Age  Relief 
Investments 
Frauds 
Cooperation 

Parliamentary  Practice 
Sociology 
Law- 
Constitutions 
Civics 


CONSUMPTION 


Literature 

History 

Music 

Painting 

Sculpture 

Architecture 

Ethics 

Foreign  Languages 

Sciences, — non-productional 

aspects 
Recreations, — golf,   tennis, 

boating,  swimming,  etc. 
The  Stage 


Travels 

Qualities  of  Goods 
Home  and  Personal  Appoint- 
ments 
Social  Usage 
Grammar 
Elocution 
Logic 
Philosophy 
Floriculture 
Hygiene 
Vice 
Crime 


In  the  administration  of  the  cnrriculum  the 
part  of  the  teacher  is  of  great  importance.  No 
subject  matter  can  be  prepared  in  text-book 
form  so  well  as  not  to  require  a  large  amount 
of  adaptation  to  the  pupil  by  the  teacher  in 
charge.    The  interpolation  of  information  by 

214 


A  Democratised  Curriculum 

the  teacher  and  especially  the  emphasising  of 
the  more  valuable  points  in  lessons  are  activi- 
ties taking  precedence  over  formal  outlines. 
Higher  efficiency  in  the  curriculum  depends  in 
no  small  degree  upon  the  resourcefulness,  ini- 
tiative, breadth  of  view  and  experience  of  the 
teacher. 

The  rejection  of  relatively  valueless  informa- 
tion calls  for  the  united  efforts  of  teachers  and 
text-book  writers.  The  making  over  of  sub- 
jects by  internal  changes  is  possible  to  a  large 
degree  through  the  work  of  text-book  writers. 
The  writer  of  text-books  in  history  may,  for  ex- 
ample, bring  into  prominence  certain  features, 
as  inventions  and  ideals,  and  throw  into  the 
background  others,  as  royalty  and  war.  The 
bulk  of  knowledge  at  hand  makes  the  election 
of  some  facts  to  the  exclusion  of  others  an  edu- 
cational necessity,  and  the  task  of  elimination 
is  therefore  inevitable.  The  choice  of  the  bet- 
ter portions  should  accordingly  be  easy. 

Educational  use  of  materials  of  a  mythical 
nature  is  to  be  carefully  judged.  The  fact  that 
children  enjoy  myths  is  one  reason  for  letting 
them  have  them,  but  on  the  other  hand  there  is 
a  question  as  to  the  wisdom  of  employing  ideas 
not  true,  especially  if  their  untruth  is  not 
rigidly  faced.     Spurious  knowledge  hinders  the 

215 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

reception  of  reliable,  and  confuses  the  child  in 
his  attempts  to  unravel  the  mysteries  about 
him.  Credulity  on  the  one  hand,  or  suspicion 
of  science  and  a  slovenly  attitude  of  mind,  may 
probably  be  traced  in  some  individuals  to  over- 
much acquaintance  with  the  unrealities  of  child- 
ren's literature.  Few  adults  are  free  from 
superstitions  and  half  truths  genetically  re- 
lated to  the  fairy  tales,  myths  and  falsified  ac- 
counts of  nature's  operations  so  abundant  in 
the  materials  supplied  children. 


216 


XV 

In  Conclusion 

Knowledge  arises  out  of  the  contact  of  the  in- 
dividual with  his  environment  and  has  value  as 
it  plays  a  part  in  subsequent  adjustments. 
Its  worth  is  to  be  judged  by  the  extent  to  which 
it  enters  into  the  relations  of  life  and  operates 
to  promote  wellbeing  and  correspondence  with 
the  various  elements  of  environment.  Many 
mental  products  are  spurious  knowledge.  Of 
the  knowledge  which  is  real  much  consists  of 
items  of  minor  value  for  adjustmental  pur- 
poses. 

To  determine  what  kinds  of  knowledge  are  of 
most  importance  the  major  social  or  economic 
relations  of  man  must  be  considered.  The  in- 
dividual lives  immersed  in  social  relationships 
and  evidently  most  important  kinds  of  knowl- 
edge arise  in  connection  with  experiences  in  the 
social  relations.  The  social  facts  of  the  pro- 
duction, distribution  and  consumption  of 
wealth  are  the  main  trunks  of  experience  along 
which  life  advances,  and  sciences  and  informal 

217 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

information  have  accumulated  related  to  these 
social  facts.  Man  as  a  producer,  distributee 
and  consumer  undergoes  experiences  in  these 
relations  resulting  in  imposing  compilations  of 
information  as  well  as  in  multitudes  of  sepa- 
rate observations  not  found  in  detail  in  books. 
The  consumptional  relation,  however,  involves 
the  appreciation  of  not  only  goods  of  immedi- 
ate necessity,  but  the  higher  fabrications  of 
skill  and  genius,  as  music,  poetry,  statuary,  ar- 
chitecture, and  elegancies  and,  as  well,  appre- 
ciation of  human  and  moral  relationships  and 
values  associated  with  cultivated  tastes  and  ex- 
tended ideals.  The  position  of  consumption 
and  appreciation  as  the  final  mode  of  experi- 
ence, presupposing  the  production  and  distri- 
bution of  wealth,  correspondingly  exalts  con- 
sumptional knowledge  and  gives  peculiar 
worth  to  accumulations  of  experience  which 
teach  how  to  make  the  best  use  of  things  and 
to  respond  to  the  highest  values  of  manufac- 
tured, natural  or  moral  utilities. 

To  live  happily  implies  a  sufficient  posses- 
sion of  the  knowledge  which  has  accumulated 
through  the  experiences  of  oneself  and  others 
in  the  past,  such  knowledge  serving  to  guide  ex- 
actly or  as  forming  the  basis  of  ideals.  The 
child  and  the  savage,  lacking  the  benefits  of 

218 


In  Conclusion 

vicarious  experience,  illustrate  by  contrast  tlie 
importance  of  an  adequate  supply  of  function- 
ing information.  The  critical  importance  of  a 
sufficient  supply  of  evaluated  information  cre- 
ates a  fundamental  problem  of  social  admini- 
stration, that  of  the  diffusion  of  knowledge. 

The  diffusion  of  knowledge  is  realised  by  va- 
rious agencies.  Informal  or  simple  communi- 
cation, as  by  conversation,  the  church,  the 
press,  the  specialist  and  the  school  system  are 
means  of  realising  the  diffusion  of  knowledge. 
Other  means  supplementary  to  those  now  de- 
veloped and  a  further  enlargement  of  existing 
agencies  of  diffusion  are  made  necessary  by 
the  insistent  demands  made  upon  the  individ- 
ual for  vicarious  experience  with  which  to  meet 
the  exigencies  of  life  under  increasing  complex 
and  fluctuating  conditions.  Agencies  of  diffu- 
sion should  make  it  possible  for  any  person  to 
obtain  any  information  at  any  time  for  any 
situation.  Such  an  aim  contemplates  a  far 
higher  diffusional  efficiency. 

Of  the  agencies  of  diffusion  the  school  is  of 
prime  importance.  Historically  the  school  has 
accomplished  much  toward  providing  the  in- 
dividual with  knowledge  needed,  but  various 
limitations  of  usefulness  have  been  evidenced. 
The  doctrine  of  formal  discipline,  resulting  in 

219 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

emphasis  upon  training  of  mind  rather  than 
upon  content  of  mind,  has  been  inconsistent 
with  the  largest  usefulness  of  the  school  as  a 
diffusional  agency.  Traditional  and  unevalu- 
ated  subject  matter  has  been  dispensed  through 
the  curriculum  to  the  neglect  of  that  meeting 
tests  of  utility.  Tests  of  utility  have  in  fact 
neither  been  systematically  and  thoroughly 
sought  nor  freely  admitted  as  desirable.  The 
school,  too,  has  been  a  means  of  social  ambition 
catering  rather  to  the  classes  than  to  the 
masses.  Instead  of  democratising  society 
through  the  curriculum  the  school  has  in  cases 
organised  curricula  of  consumptional  sub- 
ject matter  of  a  sort  derived  from  leisure  class 
experiences,  neglecting  both  that  type  of  con- 
sumptional matter  which  might  elevate  the 
standards  of  living  among  the  poor  and  also 
productional  subject  matter. 

Current  tendencies  are  toward  the  correc- 
tion of  certain  faults  of  conventional  curricu- 
la. The  introduction  of  productional  subject 
matter  tends  to  reform  the  curriculum  in 
an  important  particular.  With  the  introduc- 
tion of  productional  studies,  however,  there  is 
danger  of  a  possible  neglect  of  consumptional 
matter  of  the  right  kind,  but  more  particularly 
of  the  continued  absence  from  the  curriculum 

220 


In  Conclusion 

of  a  type  of  knowledge,  of  all  kinds  the  most 
strategic  for  democracy,  that  related  to  the  dis- 
tribution of  wealth.  Trade  school  curricula 
made  up  of  exclusively  productional  content 
have  a  tendency  to  form  wealth  creators  rather 
than  citizens  capable  of  taking  part  in  political 
movements  whose  aim  is  equality  of  conditions 
and  democracy  of  opportunity.  Democracy 
cannot  exist  unless  the  individual  is  supplied 
with  the  three  main  types  of  knowledge,  and 
any  curriculum  in  the  public  schools  below  the 
higher  institutions  in  which  the  student  is  not 
provided  with  knowledge  making  him  a  pro- 
ducer of  wealth,  an  intelligent  user  of  wealth 
and  an  enlightened  citizen  fitted  to  participate 
in  the  regulation  of  the  distribution  of  wealth, 
would  infallibly  undo  democratic  institutions  if 
not  corrected  by  extra-scholastic  agencies  of 
knowledge  diffusion. 

The  inheritance  of  large  bodies  of  subject 
matter  through  the  curriculum,  ever  in  excess 
of  the  mental  capacity  of  the  student,  tends  to 
obscure  the  need  of  developing  new  materials 
for  instruction.  Accordingly  large  quantities 
of  information  of  vital  significance  are  quasi 
esoteric,  existing  as  occupational  and  class 
experience  and  inuring  to  the  benefit  of  the 
initiated  only.    The  economic  advantage  of  pri- 

221 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

vate  information  is  such  that  heroic  efforts  are 
necessary  to  discover  and  make  accessible  the 
hidden  knowledges  upon  which  inequalities 
have  been  based  in  the  past  and  by  which  the 
few  triumph  over  the  many  in  spite  of  demo- 
cratic theory.  The  stubborn  efforts  required 
to  unearth  and  compile  a  limited  store  of  in- 
formation in  regard  to  graft  and  the  baffled  at- 
tempts of  even  inquisitorial  bodies  to  get  at 
the  inwardness  of  predatory  corporations  sug- 
gest how  valued  by  the  beneficiary  such  knowl- 
edge is,  and  by  contrast  suggest  how  beside  the 
mark  much  knowledge  dispensed  in  the  conven- 
tional curriculum  has  been.  The  social  re- 
sults of  equally  distributed  knowledge  may  be 
estimated  from  the  changes  produced  in  any 
community  by  setting  forth  the  full  facts  re- 
garding any  public  business.  The  evils  of  so- 
ciety flow  rather  from  lack  of  information  than 
from  lack  of  capacity  to  understand.  The  in- 
termingled ancestry  of  all  classes  implies  a  fair 
parity  of  capacity,  a  fact  which  is  evidenced  in 
the  primary  school  more  often  than  the  re- 
verse. The  rejection,  then,  of  quantities  of  ma- 
terial found  in  curricula  and  the  inclusion  of 
more  carefully  evaluated  information  repre- 
senting the  individual's  interests  in  his  major 

222 


In  Conclusion 

social  and  economic  relations  are  steps  toward 
greater  educational  efficiency. 

The  function  of  knowledge  in  making  pos- 
sible proper  adjustments  to  environment  im- 
plies that  points  of  need  in  society  be  accepted 
as  guides  to  the  choice  of  materials  for  diffu- 
sion. A  diagnosis  of  the  results  of  ignorance 
or  a  discovery  of  those  relationships  specially 
calling  for  information  should  precede  the  set- 
ting up  of  curricula  and  direct  the  efforts  of 
formal  agencies  of  diffusion.  Knowledge  is  a 
remedy  for  maladjustments,  which  may  be  re- 
ported from  social  surveys.  Disease,  crime, 
poverty,  economic  disadvantage,  unskilled  la- 
bour, parasitism,  juvenile  delinquency,  wasteful 
methods  of  production  or  other  evidence  of 
wrong  living  bespeaks  the  need  of  particular 
knowledge  directed  to  cure  the  maladjustment. 

The  curriculum  is  an  increasingly  influential 
vehicle  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge.  In  the 
earlier  years  of  childhood,  it  is  true,  the  volume 
of  knowledge  sent  through  the  curriculum  is 
relatively  small  due  to  the  child's  mental 
calibre.  But  with  the  expanding  intelligence 
of  the  child  the  curriculum  becomes  one  of  the 
chief  means  of  disseminating  information.  In- 
deed the  orderly  arrangement  and  impartation 

223 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

of  facts  by  means  of  the  curriculum  give  it  a 
peculiar  advantage  among  all  agencies. 

Improvement  in  the  efificiency  of  the  curricu- 
lum requires  a  critical  appraisal  of  the  value 
of  its  content.  Subjects  as  grammar,  physics, 
mathematics,  history  and  language,  need  to  be 
taken  apart  and  remade  according  to  principles 
derived  from  observations  of  utility.  There  is 
no  good  reason  why  a  subject,  as  Latin,  should 
not  be  tested  as  to  its  utility  in  a  given  com- 
munity. The  extent  to  which  kinds  of  knowl- 
edge actually  function  in  the  relations  of  life 
is  ascertainable.  There  need  be  little  guess 
work  as  to  the  extent  to  which  algebra  plays  a 
part  in  adjustments,  for  example.  Under  the 
theory  that  it  matters  little  what  one  studies 
so  long  as  he  studies  something,  irrelevant 
knowledge  has  held  too  large  a  place  in  the  cur- 
riculum, which  fact  reminds  one  of  the  tale  of 
the  old  professor  of  mathematics  who  upon  dis- 
covering a  new  mathematical  formula  ex- 
claimed, *' There,  thank  God  nobody  can  ever 
use  that!" 

The  educational  world  should  resolve  itself 
into  a  commission  to  take  testimony  as  to  what 
knowledge  is  proved  of  most  worth  and  to  sub- 
stitute the  valuable  for  the  relatively  unimpor- 
tant.   The  time-honored  practice  of  teaching 

224 


In  Conclusion 

unevaluated  information  is  hardly  in  keeping 
with  the  highest  welfare.  Scores  of  subjects 
or  topics  not  in  the  curriculum  ought  to  be  in, 
and  divers  conventionalised  studies  might  be 
dismantled  as  such  with  benefit  to  the  diffusion 
of  vital  knowledge. 

The  curriculum  for  the  formative  years 
should  contain  materials  selected  for  their  ap- 
plicability to  the  later  life  of  the  pupil,  insofar 
as  his  life  may  be  forecasted  in  the  light  of  ex- 
perience and  directed  under  democratic  ideals 
of  what  the  citizen  should  know  and  be.  What 
is  taught  should  be  of  no  untried  or  unappraised 
character.  The  individual  is  to  be  put  in  ad- 
justment to  his  environment,  whose  demands 
are  definite  and  capable  of  broad  classification 
if  not  of  specific  discovery. 

The  fusion  in  the  curriculum  of  the  knowl- 
edge derived  through  human  experience  with 
the  productional,  distributional  and  consump- 
tional  aspects  of  environment  is  of  prime  im- 
portance. The  seminary  which  has  in  mind 
only  consumptional  culture,  and  the  trade 
school  which  makes  no  provision  for  civic  in- 
fluence and  the  worthy  use  of  goods  when  pro- 
duced, and  the  school  which  aims  at  mental  dis- 
cipline regardless  of  the  content  of  subjects 
taught  as  determined  by  objective  tests,  are 

225 


The  Education  of  To-morrow 

alike  faulty.  A  liberal  education,  and  every 
child  is  surely  entitled  to  such,  provides  with 
such  information  as  makes  for  suitable  rela- 
tions, not  merely  to  a  phase  of  experience,  but 
to  the  wide  circle  of  vital  needs  of  whatever 
grade. 

Education  is  capable  of  rendering  services  to 
humanity  which  as  yet  can  hardly  be  conceived, 
but  educational  reconstruction  is  no  light  task. 
Once  firmly  grounded  in  democratic  theory, 
however,  the  working  out  of  special  materials 
to  be  included  in  the  curriculum — the  ten  thou- 
sand and  one  bits  of  knowledge  of  demonstrated 
superior  value — may  proceed  year  by  year 
under  many  willing  hands. 


THE  END 


226 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Accidents,    177- 
Adams  County,   171 
Adulteration  of  food,  183- 
Aprricultural   colleges,   204 
Animal    diseases,    201 
Areopagitica,  59 
Arithmetic,  71 
Art,  41-,   163 
Asking  questions,  99- 

Bacon,   74 
Bacon.   Roger,  80 
Banking,  21 
Bill  Nve,   135 
Books, '52,  87 
Bribery,   170- 
Bulletin   literature,  89- 
Bruno,   80 

Bureau     of     Municipal     Re- 
search,   185 
Burglar,  33 

Cheapness,    principle   of,    113, 
114,   116 

Cheating,   191 

Church,     and     consumptional 
knowledge,    84- 
knowledge-diffusing       func- 
tion  of,   81-,   85 

Churchill.  200 

Civic  enliglitcnment,  29 

Civic  questions  in  school,  114- 

Clergvman,    82- 

Collie'r,   25 

Communication,    54- 

Consunier,    42- 

Consumption,    knowledge    of, 
36- 


primary,    37 

training  for  necessary,  128- 
Consumptional  knowledge,  in- 
cludes what,  47 

superior  value  of,  164 
Continuation    schools,    97 
Cornell,    92 
Corporations,    26 
Country   life   commission,   32- 
Creduli'ty,  216 
Crime,   cost  of,    173- 
Crookston  School   of  Agricul- 
ture, 208- 
Curriculum,  50,  131- 

consumptional,  205- 

differentiation,    202- 

productional,    206- 

requirements,    125- 

suggested,  212- 

Darwinism,    114 
Death   in   well,    181 
Democracy  of  wants,   129- 
Diffusion,  need  of,  51,  53- 
Disciplinary    conception,    107- 
Distrihutional  knowledge,  con- 
sists  of   what,   30- 

rule  for  choice  of,  160- 

test  of,  33 

traditional,    24- 

value  of,  27- 
Distribution  of  wealth,  20 

science    of,    22- 
Division   of  labour,   133 
Drainage,  200- 


229 


Economic  democracy,  130,  131 
Educational  commissions,  141 


Index 


Educational         readjustment, 

119- 
Engineering    in    universities, 

204 
Evolution  and  revolution,  155 
Explosion  of  a  lamp,   180 
Extension,      at      agricultural 
colleges,    88- 
assistance  to  clubs,  90 
high  school,  93 
ideal  of,  92 
need  of,  98- 
university,  88 

Factory  routine,  13 
Fama,  56 
Family  life,   38- 
Farmer,  32-,   154,   155 
Farmers'    institute,    95- 
Farm   machinery,    195- 
Fires,  teaching  how  to  avoid, 

181- 
Flax    wilt,    200 
Food  adulteration,   183- 
French,  44 

Government,  29- 
Governmental       publication3, 

102- 
Graft,   157 
Greek,  5 
Greene,   177 
Health,    38 

High    school   curricula,   203- 
History,    110- 
Home,    productive    work    of, 

143 
Hygiene,  162 

Ignorance  of  materials,    186- 
Incomes,  publicity  for,  31 
reasonableness    of    unequal, 
31- 
Tndian,  44 
Infant  mortality,  177 


230 


Information,  and  evils  of  so- 
ciety, 222 
convenient  classification  of, 
100- 
Inheritance   of   wealth,    159- 
Inquisition,    80 
Intelligence,  86-,  108- 
Intemperance,   165,   172- 
Interest-taking,    160 
Inventions,   11- 
Inventor,  153 
Investments,    190 
Iowa   State   College,  95 

Jefferson,   125 
Jordan,  136 

Knowledge,  classified,   8 
consumptional,   47,    164- 
definition  of,   136 
distributional,  24-,  27-,  30-, 

33,  160- 
evaluation  of,  138- 
false,    136 
function  of,   3- 
orderly     structure     of,     63- 
productional,   9- 
values    to    be    tested,    118, 

119 
when  valuable,  51 

Labour    party    in    Australia, 

154- 
Labour,  unskilled,  144 
Language,    instruction,    109- 
Law,   169 

Liberal  education,  226 
Linen,   189 
Literature,  41- 
Logic,    110 
Lowell  Textile  Schools,  206- 

Maladjustments,  223 
Materials    in    manufacturing 
processes,    147,    148 


Index 


Maximum    usefulness,    princi- 
ple  of,   149- 
Mechanical  environment,  193- 
Memory,  52 
Metaphysics,    110 
Middleman,   27 
Modern    conveniences,    193- 
Moore,    109 
Morals,  45- 
Moral  training,   166- 
Morris   chair.    18 
Music,    41,    163 
Myths,  215- 

National   information   depart- 
ment,  100- 
Natural    resources,    145 
Newspaper,  circulation,  57- 
and    consumptional    ideals, 

65- 
and   direct   style,   59 
and   knowledge  of  distribu- 
tion, 66- 
newspaper  intelligence,   58 
News,  nature  of,  59- 

Ont   smut,    190 
Ohliviscence,   Ill- 
Organization,    need    of,    155- 

Pansophic  ideal,   74,  75 
Parable  of  the  sower,  17 
Patent    medicines,    182- 
Pellew,   188 
Petersham  Agricultural  High 

School,  210- 
Philosophy,    136 
Physician,    72- 
Plant   diseases.    199- 
Piioujnonia,   176- 
Poet.    IS 
Poetry,    163 
Political  evils  and  ignorance, 

168 


Popular  lecturing,  94,  95 

Poverty,  28 

Priest   as   teacher,   78 

Principles,     most     serviceable 
knowledge,  137 

Production,   activities   of,    11- 
knowledge   of,   9- 
need    of   common    acquaint- 
ance with,   126- 

Productional    knowledge,    test 
of.    14- 

Productivity   of   ideas,    151 

Professional   training,   115 

Property,   21 

Public  welfare,   47- 

Peading,   105 
Recitation,  106 
Recreation,   40- 

need  of  training  for,   162- 
Replies   to   letters,   89 
Retention,  social,  51- 
Rittenhouse,    177 
Roosevelt,  32 

Salesman.  90,   91 
Scales,  18.5- 
School,  104-,  219- 

current  tendencies,  220- 
Schurman,   58 

Secretary  of  agriculture,  195- 
Peed    selection,    199 
Sermon,   83 
Shaw,  200 

Sickness,  cost  of,  175 
Silks,    188- 
Skill,    144- 
Soaps,   187 

Social  ownership,  162 
Soil  fertility,  108- 
Specialist,    69-,    71- 
Specialisation,    133 
Spending.  39- 
Sports  and  games,  146 


231 


Index 


studies,  revision  of,  224- 
Strikes,   29- 
Suclcer   list,    192 
Sunday,  83 

Tariff,  158 
Taxation,   158- 
Teacher,  115,   116,  214- 
Teaching,   extra-mural,   94 
Teaching  the   obvious,   117- 
Telephone,    100 
Textbooks,  number  of,  141 
Theology   and   science,   79- 
Tingle,    182 
Tobacco  lands,  198 
Trade    schools,    132- 
Transportation,   21 
Trusts.  26 
Tuberculosis,    175- 
Tyler     County    High    School, 
205- 


Typhoid,  176 

Universitj'  of  Wisconsin,  186, 
211- 

Van  Hise,    178 

Vesalius,  Andreas,  80 
Vocation,     determination     of, 

149 
Vocational   short  courses,  96- 
Voting,  ignorant,  169- 

Wages,   25 

Washington,    125 

Wealth,  centralised,  30 

Weeds,  200 

Weights  and  measures.   185- 

Wheat  yield.  198- 

Woollens,   189 

Woolman,    189 

Work  conscience,  40 

Worst,    199 


232 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


FEB  5 

1W 

iAY  2  6  193: 

f\R  IB 

194. 

/  S9 

19lt 

py  3 

1943 

i  3 1945 


8 

\r4 

.C 

t   V6^^ 

i^n 

2  - 19^^ 

la 

13SI 

RECTDSOLim 

<  ^^'^m 

orm  L-9-15r?i-3,'34 

LB 

875     Weeks  - 

miQ 

The  education 
of  to-morrow. 


^.(^rtW^rt^'frtr^frr^ 


.b  5 


L  009  617  387  7 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


AA    001  224  9 


5    7 


UN1VFK?TTY  of  CALIFORNIA 


•  IBRABY 


